


An Itch You Can't Ratch'

by Cosmicat



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Awkward Crush, Awkward Sexual Situations, F/M, Fluff, Health Issues, Het and Slash, Implied Spark Sex, Long Lost/Secret Relatives, Lost Love, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mech Preg, Mechpreg, Mild Sexual Fantasies, Minor Talk About Menstruation, Mpreg, Multiplot, Mutual And One-Sided Sexual Attraction, Non-Explicit, Parents & Children, References to Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Some Humor, Sparklings, Violence, interfacing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-16
Updated: 2013-07-29
Packaged: 2017-12-20 09:18:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 35,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/885581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cosmicat/pseuds/Cosmicat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Genres: Friendship, Family, Romance, very minor Hurt & Comfort, recurring humorous situations.</p><p>All Ratchet wanted was to be left alone in his destined misery. Then June is made his charge. Slowly crawling under his metallic skin, neither foresaw the results that would eventually occur after June finds a side to an overcharged Ratchet nobody knew existed. Little by little, past secrets come to light, shocking revelations unfold, and poor Ratchet can't seem to catch a break from everything that's going on. If something isn't wrong at the base, it's his personal life that's suddenly become a playground for the ever fun-loving spawns of bad luck and cruel fate. For better or worse, things shall never be the same again; at least not after Ratchet eventually -to his horror- discovers something life-changing about himself and a fellow comrade.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first Transformers fanfiction. I try my best but if there are any errors you think I should fix, please let me know! English wasn't my first language and despite most people consider my skills excellent, I acknowledge I'm not perfect.  
> I have the first 20 chapters done already and plans for several more, but I'm also open for suggestions! Some of the future chapters may have mature content so the rating may change later.  
> -Anyways, I hope you guys have as much fun reading this as I had writing it! ^^

"You can't be serious!" Ratchet protested, staring down at the human presented in front of him. "I'm way too busy here at the base to look after… a human!"

Optimus Prime was used to his medic's antics after working with him for thousands of years, and wasn't fazed by the ambulance's open opposition.

"Ratchet, I am aware that you work harder than I'd ever expect from any of my underlings. But the truth is; that Nurse Darby is in need of an Autobot guardian. Unless you can argue that Smokescreen is the better choice, I suggest you make yourself acquainted to your new charge."

The Commander knew how much just his mere stance held authority over his mechs, thus he rarely needed to ask anything twice. The pure respect the Autobots held for the Prime insisted they all –deep down– knew their place in the small squad; so Optimus never needed to remind who was in charge, the way his archrival did. Not that he ever even wanted to. Even Ratchet, no matter how old or stubborn he was, knew when to stand down; especially if he knew the other option wasn't the better one. That however didn't mean he liked it any better.

"Uh… Alright, fine! I'll do it. I won't like it, but I'll do it." the medic surrendered with an assuring stance, silently cursing his darned luck. Why did Optimus always have to be right?

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some work to do!" he scowled, in his usual, slightly dramatic manner, retreating back in the makeshift medical bay of their former-missile-silo of a base, quietly grumbling under his breath.

"Wow." said nurse whistled at what she had been presented with. "He sure does know how to make a girl feel special."

"Don't take it personally. Ratchet is like that to everyone. He's just one of those glitched, war-hardened aftheads. He doesn't mean it half the time." Arcee, her son's guardian and the only female of the robotic group, consoled the woman.

"Yeah." The giant, green wrecker, Bulkhead, agreed. "Once he's gotten used to you, it won't be so bad. Chances are, he'll like you but won't admit it. The slagger has one heck of a pride."

"I must apologize on Ratchet's behalf, Nurse Darby; but I, too, must concur that Arcee and Bulkhead are right. He may have his… issues with this planet and its inhabitants; but deep down he has a spark made of the purest crystals of the Praxian gardens. My wish is that you only gave him a chance. I strongly believe this union is… for the both of your benefit."

"Alright… So, what am I supposed to do now?" June asked, feeling slightly insecure around four giant bots.

"My suggestion is that you get to know one another better. How you go on about it is completely up to you. Although I regret I cannot stay here to see to your progress. I have to go on a scheduled patrol with Bumblebee." The Prime said, turning around. "Arcee, please open the ground bridge."

The blue motorcycle did as was told, and as Optimus was stepping in the cyan green spiral; he turned to address the nurse one last time.

"Until later, Nurse Darby." He made a small salute, and June answered him with a similar wave of her hand as the leader of the Autobots transformed in his renowned alt-mode, the Peterbild truck, and drove in the ground bridge with the yellow sports car that was Bumblebee right on his tail.

As the vortex died down, Arcee walked over to Bulkhead and began dragging him from his arm.

"We need to go, too. Bulkhead and I also have some stuff to do."

"We do? But, didn't Prime say…" the big, green bot began, but realized his mistake as he met the glaring look on his comrade's faceplate. He immediately began playing along, although awkwardly.

"Oh, that stuff. Right. Uh, lead the way. Don't wanna be late!" he said hurriedly, as they both escaped the room to the opposite direction from the med bay.

Mrs. Darby could see through the façade, but decided to let it slip. It was obvious what they wanted her to do now and she supposed she didn't have an option, for now. After all, Ratchet was the one that was supposed to take her to work and back from now on, so she had better start buttering up the old bot sooner rather than later. Without further ado, she began walking towards Ratchet's self-proclaimed Kingdom.

The inside of the Med Bay was just like the main room, only a bit smaller. Scattered across the tables and the floor were all sorts of gadgets and doohickeys, gears, plates, bolts, nuts, springs, and so forth making it look more like a garage than a medical bay. In the middle of the room were two medical berths, and on the other side of the wall were some more computers… or at least multiple screens. Not as many as in the lobby, though. Ratchet was currently busy pretending to be typing something important with such an exaggerated hurt look on his face that it made June chuckle in light amusement, until suddenly:

"I fail to see the humor in this situation."

It didn't faze June though. If anything the other bots had told about him were true, she knew just the way to handle someone like him.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know my opinion mattered." She answered, smugly, smiling mischievously at the doctor who just briefly glanced at her direction, quickly returning back to staring at his computer screen, closing his optics and shaking his helm in disbelief.

"Can you please go away? I'm trying to concentrate here." Ratchet asked, in his usual 'you're-bothering-me' tone. June didn't care, though. She looked around and finally found a way to climb up on the desk that was just next to the screens in front of Ratchet. While on top, she sat down on something and watched Ratchet 'working', with an amused look on her face.

"You're not waiting for me to say 'please', are you? Because if so, you're wasting your time." Ratchet said, not even bothering to turn his head this time.

"Nah, don't think so. I was just going to wait and see how long you're going to pretend I didn't notice you're just pressing random keys and not actually writing."

That made the typing suddenly come to a halt, and the baffled medic turned his head towards the human in wonderment.

"Caught ya." was the nurse's smug reply, and immediately Ratchet cursed falling for the old trick, making him drop his fists on the keyboard and glancing back at the intruder.

"Just a lucky call." he snorted, obviously only trying to save some face after being so brutally owned by the human female.

"I'm a mother. I can tell pretend from genuine." She playfully snapped back at him.

"You would."

"Are we going to carry on this pointless conversation or are we going get to know one another as Prime wished we would?"

That made Ratchet's optics widen and his mouth drop open. The nerve of this woman! First she down right humiliates him and now, this?

"What on Cybertron is…Uhh, fine!" he surrendered, lifting up his arms in a dramatic matter.

"You win. But don't you think I'm going to forget this." he said bitterly, sitting down in front of the screens.

"Didn't expect anything less from you." June said, smiling. Her plan was coming along just fine.


	2. Chapter 2

They stared at one another a good while, until June decided it had been awkward enough and started.

"So, since you won't say anything, I guess I'll start. June Darby, Registered Nurse. Jack is my son. I work at the hospital in town. In my free time I enjoy gardening, pilates, and reading. Anything you want to ask?"

The medic huffed. "Not particularly."

"Alright. What about you?"

Ratchet just rolled his optics and sighed.

"Well, if we really must go through this game… The designation is Ratchet, as you know. I'm the CMO, the Chief Medical Officer of the Autobots.. Or at least technically am, if there were any other medics around. I make sure nobody gets offlined due to whatever reason and try to pry some sense into everyone's helms AND that includes Optimus. Does anyone ever listen, is another story. I don't like it here and I don't pretend to like it and that's final. The team is the only reason why I stay here, because without me they wouldn't survive for long. Besides making sure everyone is fixed and in proper working order, I also manage the ground bridge, do surveillance at base such as keeping an eye on any Decepticon movement or Energon that might pop up on screen if uncovered. I manage our Energon supplies and refine more whenever we manage to recover a new batch. And try to come up with a solution to any practical problem there may be; and trust me, there always is. A lot. "

June looked at the bot, who turned his face away from her during the last statement.

"You have any hobbies?" She suddenly asked, in hopes of lightening the mood a little.

"Well, I'm pretty talented in throwing the wrench. I have an impeccable aim." he said, sounding a little proud.

"So I've heard." she snickered, but decided to stop when Ratchet just kept staring at her like she's just said something stupid. So she decided to return to the previous topic.

"You really care a lot about them, don't you?"

Ratchet snorted. "Obviously. More than they deserve, at least."

June was quiet for a while, but decided to ask then what she thought was natural.

"Do you have any family?"

Ratchet seemed to tense at the question, but finally answered:

"The team is all the family I will ever have."

June thought his answer was a little peculiar and kept on studying on Ratchet's body language and thought she spied something the bot wasn't telling, but decided to leave it at that. She had gotten a vague idea of what kind of a person Ratchet was, and decided to put her theory at test.

"Tell me something. Why do you dislike us humans so much? I mean, I know you respect Optimus a lot more than you give him credit for and he is so keen on protecting us and obviously you do not oppose to that. Yet, I can see that you're… not exactly loving us, either. Why is that?"

Ratchet left out a dramatic sigh and looked at his new charge with a serious look on his face that even scared June a little. "Do you really want to go there?"

June had no choice but to nod, though insecurely.

"Fine, but don't claim I didn't warn you." the bot said in a serious tone.

"It's because you're all so fragging clueless! You're the only sentient species on the planet and that makes you think you're the only sentient species in the entire Universe! You have a huge, rich, beautiful planet full of resources and you keep destroying it! Some of your own are dying of hunger in one nation, yet another nation is consuming more than a hundred of these other nations combined! You flew up to your moon a half a century ago and that makes you think you've conquered space. You spend your happy little lives in loving family units and multiply faster than your planet can sustain! You face hardships and wars, but you're still thriving and making significant scientific progress despite your species is still fairly young and completely regardless that you're the most ignorant species I've ever met in my nearly thousand-vorn life! And you don't even have any protective shell on you! That's just plain… wrong!" he finished, covering up the pained look on his face with his palm.

June was taken aback by that statement. Sure, she had expected to hear some of that, but somehow, she had a feeling if there was something else behind this outburst…

The nurse sighed in sympathy. "I know what you mean on some of those things you mentioned and you're absolutely right. There are many things our species could learn from yours, I'm sure. But why do I get the feeling that is not the real reason why you don't like us?"

Ratchet moved his palm a little. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"I think… And don't take this the wrong way, ok? I think… That deep down, on certain level… you envy us."

Ratchet just rolled his optics. "Don't be absurd. What on Cybertron would I ever be envious of you for?"

"Well… I mean…" June started, and began listing anything she could think of.

"The things you said. I think you were saying we have things you don't think we deserve. Things that you wish you had instead?"

That made Ratchet halt for a split second, as the realization hit him. This woman wasn't stupid.

"Oh, p-puh-leaase. You have gotten completely the wrong idea. I don't think you deserve them simply because you don't deserve them, and that's that."

"I think you're lying." she replied, studying sternly on his every move.

"You're delirious. Where do you even come up with this stuff?"

June was silent for a moment. She was aware Ratchet clearly wanted to change the subject, but decided to go along with it.

"I don't know about any other species, but we human women have something we call a woman's intuition."

"Well, your intuition is mistaken." Ratchet waved her off, got back up again and this time began typing something on the computer, mumbling under his breath.

June watched him working for a while, but decided to break the silence once more.

"You remind me of my father."

"Do I, now?" was the sarcastic reply. But June wasn't fazed by it.

"He was a veteran of the Vietnam war. A medic, co-incidentally. He's long gone, now, though."

As Ratchet didn't say anything, she decided to continue.

"I guess you are a lot more like him than I initially thought. He was a very proud man. Always did his work the best he could. Thought he knew best and wasn't afraid to tell so to his superiors. And was secretly jealous of those who had never needed to face the cruelty of war. He earned everything he had with hard work and thought less of those who got off too easy in his opinion. But he also cared a lot, a lot more than he'd ever admit. That's what eventually cost him his life."

The typing quieted down and the silence lasted for a few long seconds.

"How did he die?"

"There was this young man living next door to where he and mom lived. He was what dad called 'a slacker'. He spent his time hanging around in this shady group of people, didn't have a steady job, dressed up in ripped and dirty clothes and generally lived a very shallow life. Dad had his own way of trying to motivate him to "get on with his life" and to "make him a proper citizen"; warned him what would happen if he kept on hanging with these people and so on. Looked after him, so to speak, since nobody else did. Then, one night when dad was out pretending to be raking the front yard, he saw the kid walking home, obviously drunk. What he also saw was headlights approaching him faster than the speed limit. Dad had just enough time to shout at him to 'look out' and to push him aside. The car hit dad instead and he died later in the hospital. On the following day the car was found abandoned in a ditch only a few miles away. The driver was never found."

Ratchet was quiet for a while, but then finally replied:

"I'm… Sorry. For your loss."

"No need. It was a long time ago. It was because of what happened that I decided to become a nurse."

"What happened to the young man?"

"He… Was scared by what happened. He thought he owed it to my dad so he straightened his ways. Well, for the most part at least."

"…And?"

"I married him."

An awkward silence lingered around for a while, until a strange beeping noise could be heard from the hall.

"What the…?" Ratchet said under his breath, and walked to the main computer. A huge blue light was flickering in one spot. Ratchet's optics widened and he immediately opened his comm. link. "Optimus, Smokescreen, Bumblebee, Arcee, Bulkhead, return to base immediately and prepare to take off! It seems… We have just uncovered the largest batch of Energon to the date."


	3. Chapter 3

"Bulkhead, did you hear that?" Arcee asked, looking up at her friend.

"Sure did. Let's hurry!" was the Wrecker's reply, as the rushed back into the main hangar.

Arcee opened her comlink as they both entered the room. "Optimus!"

"We are on our way, Arcee. Tell Ratchet to open the ground bridge immediately!" was the ever stable reply of the Prime, though this time his tone held a sense of urgency.

"Ratchet! Bridge open, now!" she yelled, and the medic instantly obeyed, pushing the lever and the cyan green vortex of the ground bridge flared to life. Not a second later, they could see Optimus and Bumblebee driving in, and then transform.

"What is the situation?" Optimus asked, rushing to the computers where Ratchet already was waiting.

"So far so good. The cons haven't reached the batch yet, perhaps not even departed the Nemesis even. I don't see any con activity within a 100-mile radius or anywhere else for that matter. But with a batch of this magnitude, there's no way they could have just missed it."

"I understand." Optimus noted, taking a closer look at the map, studying it with a stern look on his face. The batch seemed to be inside the crater of a long since extinct volcano. He supposed an earthquake had broken it open and revealed the treasure inside for the sensors to pick it up; and if that were the case it suggested the possibility the volcano was re-activating, giving them more the reason to act now.

"Optimus." Ratchet continued, looking dead serious. "Even if we could only recover a fraction of it, it would give us enough for successful missions in the future. But, if it fell into the decepticon hands... "

"…The small amount we might be able to recover does little good for us, if they get the rest. The edge it would give them… Would be devastating for us." Optimus continued. His optics narrowed into slits as he reattached his battle mask, carefully scrutinizing the data.

"Autobots." He started, turning around to face his crew. "I realize this could be a trap, but this is something we cannot afford to pass over. But, for this mission to succeed, I shall need each and every one of you. We cannot let Megatron get his claws on the energon, or we risk losing this war."

"Finally, some action! Lead the way, Prime, sir! I'm starving to kick some decepticon skid plate!" Smokescreen, who somehow had managed to enter the hangar without being seen by the others, proclaimed enthusiastically, shadow punching in the open air with a determined look on his faceplate.

"The cons won't know what hit 'em once I've gone through with 'em!"

"Oh, no you don't!" Ratchet intervened the eager youngster's daydreaming.

"This is way too dangerous of a mission for someone of your experience level, young mech! I am more experienced, thus I am needed in the mission. That means you shall be staying at the base. We need someone to manage the ground bridge."

"Wha… No way! You serious? Come on!" Smokescreen protested, his stance dropping immediately in disappointment.

"You won't be doing even that much unless you still remember how to operate it." was Ratchet's stern reply.

"Give me a break, Ratch!" the younger bot pleaded. "Prime!" the youngster turned towards the leader, practically begging on his knees. "Please tell me that I can go! I promise I'll make it worth your while, sir!"

Optimus looked at Ratchet for a while, and then down at the junior of the team.

"While I must admit you have indeed proven to being a capable warrior, Smokescreen; your eagerness and desperation to get 'in on the action' does make myself doubt if you are the best choice to accompany us in this mission. And Ratchet is correct that we are in need of someone to operate the bridge."

Smokescreen looked devastated at what he heard, but the Prime continued.

"However, with the outcome of this mission being crucial to our cause and the future of our operations on this planet, we are going to need every mech available. And that includes you. "

Smokescreen's optics basically flared up with elation, while Ratchet suddenly looked like he was about to blow a gasket.

"Optimus, you can't! He's way too young for this! And what about the bridge?"

"My decision is final, Ratchet." Optimus stated with a stern and serious tone that insisted the furious doctor to get over it and get going. He turned towards the human who was still at the base and looked quite unsure of what she was supposed to do now.

"Mrs. Darby can handle the bridge control. Brief her swiftly Ratchet; we must get to the energon before the decepticons do."

The unsatisfied but silenced medic quickly grabbed the surprised woman, took her to the ground bridge control module and showed her what to do, while he installed the coordinates of the energon batch's location. In no later than a couple of minutes, the ground bridge flared alive again, this time by June, and all six of the Autobots rolled out right behind their leader's tail.

Optimus had prepared to face anything at all when exiting through the ground bridge. A vehicon ambush, Megatron himself greeting him upon imminent arrival, or Dreadwing having set up his bombs all around the volcano and setting them off immediately after they'd arrived. Anything, but this.

They were inside of a volcano, alright. But instead there being a ton of energon crystals all around, there were a truckload of crates, full of mined energon. It appeared the volcano was a former decepticon mine, and someone, likely Starscream, had left some crates behind in case he'd need them later. And nonchalant as ever, he hadn't even bothered to leaving more than two vehicons guarding the batch, both of who now laid lifeless on the ground before their pedes. Above them, towards the orifice of the volcano, was a hole that had clearly been recently shot, causing the petrified magma that had previously blocked the opening, to collapse down. Eliminating his theory about the earthquake, Optimus quickly deducted this had made it possible for their sensors to have picked up the energon radiation from within the mountain.

Speaking of the devil, the former air commander Starscream suddenly appeared before them, casually holding a crate.

"Wha-ah! Autobots!" He screeched, dropping the crate in surprise. He clearly hadn't been expecting anyone to find him, or at least not this soon.

"Screamer? Really?" Bulkhead snorted, aiming his weapons at the former con, along with everyone else.

"Arcee! Bumblebee!" Optimus Prime called and the mentioned bots stepped forward. "Keep your weapons aimed at Starscream. Permission to shoot if he tries to attack us or escape."

"Yes, sir!" Arcee said, with a concentrated look on her faceplate, and Bumblebee whirred in acknowledgement, looking determined.

"The rest of you, stack the crates in my trailer. We must hurry before he decepticons get here!"

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that." The former decepticon smiled. "I made sure there are no records of this place in their databanks, and calibrated their radars so that this tiny, otherwise unnoticeable spot would stay cloaked. How else do you think I'd ever dare to come here and take whatever I need?"

"Quiet, con!" Arcee spat, and the cowardly seeker silenced immediately. They knew Starscream was only trying to smooth talk into making them spare his life, if it came to that. And who knew how much of what he said was true anyway. They only had to hope it was, because it surely would buy them some time. Ratchet however doubted that the radiation levels would be too high by now, that even if the volcano was indeed cloaked, the cons wouldn't be unaware of the energon for much longer as it spread around in the atmosphere.

Optimus quickly unsubspaced his trailer as he, Bulkhead, Smokescreen and Ratchet got to work and soon almost every crate had been loaded up.

"This can't be all of it." Ratchet noted, as he realized the huge amount of crates fitted perfectly inside the Autobot commander's trailer. "The reading on the screen was way higher."

"In that case it must mean all the energon in this volcano has not been mined, yet. If we can't get it, we must make sure neither do the decepticons."

Suddenly, laser fire could be heard.

"It's the cons!" Arcee shouted, causing everyone to become alert and making herself and Bumblebee to lose their attention on the prisoner for a split second, who immediately saw his chance and escaped. Arcee cursed loudly as she realized this and began going after him.

"Arcee! Let him go!" Optimus ordered. "Our top priority is to get the energon into safety, and then make sure Megatron will not get the rest!"

That said, the autobot leader immediately called June to open the ground bridge, and they all hurried in, Optimus in his alternate mode with the trailer now attached. Right before the vortex closed, everyone fired their guns behind at the few crates they had been forced to leave behind, and Bulkhead even threw back a powerful grenade he had gotten from Wheeljack. The vortex closed down as the vehicons finally arrived, leaving behind a huge explosion, collapsing the volcano over them.

The mission had been a tremendous success.


	4. Chapter 4

June was pacing around nervously in the Autobot base, ready to react immediately if she heard from Optimus or anyone else. She kept wondering how they were doing. What if it had been a trap after all and they needed help? The very thought made her panic inside, but then she remembered there was always Agent William Fowler, who she could turn to in case of an emergency. Though then again, like Optimus had said, there wasn't much the humans could do against the decepticons. But, wait a sec; didn't all the Cybertronians, Autobots and Decepticons alike, have an Earth-based vehicle mode? So, maybe, just maybe, all wouldn't be lost as Nurse Darby supposed humans would be able to match them on this accord, at least in theory. She just hoped it wouldn't come to that. In any case, she was really happy today was her day off.

Aside of course never wanting to see any of her new alien friends hurt or even worse, offline; but for now what she really wanted was to avoid being too much around Agent Fowler. Not that there was anything wrong with him per se… She wasn't completely sure, but she had a feeling said agent had set his eyes on her. Well, it wasn't that he'd done anything, really… Ok, he had hugged her once when he had been greatly relieved their plan to defeat Unicron had worked and the bots had survived, but it had been more like an unconscious reaction; which, in a sense, kind of confirmed her suspicions. Especially when you took into account the way he reacted after he realized what he'd done. It was so awkward, and there had been a certain awkwardness lingering between the two ever since, which made her a bit uncomfortable.

She didn't have time to think much further though, as she soon received a message from Optimus to open up the ground bridge. She swore she could hear laser fire, grunting and clanging from the background. Can't say it exactly helped her already very stressed out state of mind. It was only her experience as a nurse which always required her to stay levelheaded which prevented her from going into a full-blown panic.

She stared at the green vortex in dread, but it didn't take long until the bots rushed in, one by one, right behind Optimus who was in his vehicle mode pulling along his… trailer?

June's eyes widened as she realized Optimus was driving in such a velocity he either would not be able to stop in time before crashing to the wall, or there was an unplanned Autobot sandwich in the making. She rushed towards the wall and landed on her knees, thanking God she wasn't on the floor level at the moment. And, as if right on cue, Optimus made an emergency break and transformed, his trailer coming off, and the bots, one after another and Bulkhead on top of them, crashed right into it. Well, except Arcee, who –thanks to the agility provided by her lithe frame– managed to jump aside the last second. Optimus also managed to avoid getting hurt, but his trailer opened up due to the damage it sustained, some of the crates inside falling on the floor.

Once the racket quieted down, disregarding some pained moans from the bots, June stood up and began assessing the situation, her nurse –mode activating. "Is everybody okay?"

Bulkhead, having landed on top of Ratchet, Bumblebee and Smokescreen had sustained barely any damage at all, so he immediately stood up when he realized what had happened.

"Aawh, so sorry about that, guys! The shockwave from the blast must have affected me harder than I thought. Are you alright?"

"Don't blame yourself, Bulkhead. It was my fault for miscalculating the space I needed inside and not adjusting my speed accordingly." Optimus stated, rushing to help the other bots up with Arcee.

Seeing Bumblebee had gotten up on his own and was now helping Smokescreen, Optimus went straight for Ratchet. He began pulling him up from his left servo, which probably was not a wise move as it made the medic howl in pain.

"Aoowww, Optimus!"

Seeing his oldest friend's reaction, he immediately let go.

"What's wrong, Ratchet?" he asked, worriedly.

"My servo ached when you pulled it. It must have broken." the medic said, obviously trying to hide just how badly it exactly hurt.

Bulkhead saw his chance to being useful and brought in two Cybertronian sized chairs. One was for Ratchet; and the other for Smokescreen who seemed to have some trouble standing up. Optimus helped Ratchet to sit down, as Bulkhead went to Smokescreen and carried him to sit down as well.

Further inspection proved that Bumblebee had indeed been the luckiest of the damaged bots; he only had some scratches and dents on his frame. Ratchet and Smokescreen obviously weren't as lucky. Aside from also bearing a lot of scratches and dents, Ratchet had broken something that June didn't remember in his servo that was much more painful than serious, or so he claimed. It however would render it useless until it was fixed and the healing nanited worked their magic properly, which would take a while. The same was in Smokescreen's case as he had spread a hydraulic in his pede, the reason why it was so hard for him to stand up and walk.

Bulkhead began unloading the trailer with Bumblebee while telling the still quite bewildered June about their most recent adventure, but she didn't pay much attention on him as she was more interested in making sure Ratchet and Smokescreen were okay.

Optimus, in his never-ceasing sense of duty, had taken it upon himself to trying to fix Ratchet's servo, following each instruction from the medic to the letter. June couldn't help but notice how Ratchet avoided looking Optimus in the optics and his occasional flustering in his words as Optimus accidently touched him anywhere else than on said arm – or servo as they called it. Optimus was exaggeratingly gentle in his touches, which June thought must have required extreme caution from a bot of his caliber.

Beside them on the other berth in the med bay, lay Smokescreen who had gotten some analgesic injected in his system, it supposedly sped up the healing process, and was now making googly eyes - or optics- with a wide, goofy grin at the pretending-to-not-having-noticed Arcee, who was clearly growing more and more frustrated for some reason. She, having received some medical training from Ratchet for situations such as these, was busy trying to fix the hydraulic in his pede.

Thankfully, upon further examination, the damage hadn't seemed to being nowhere near as serious as Ratchet had originally feared; and June had a distinct idea that the younger bot was partially faking it – and was now enjoying his prize to the fullest, judged by the love-struck look on his faceplate and how his optics followed every move Arcee made, down to the finest detail.

Now that was an interesting new development, she thought as she looked at the unlikely pair, amused. She had to admit if there was one thing she was curious about, was the nature of the bots' relationships and function in this area. Did they experience love? Did the genders engage in sexual relations, – or whatever their equivalent of that was? Were they even genders the way humans understood them? How did they bear young, if they did?

Arcee suddenly slapped Smokescreen's digits off, which just had happened to have accidently ventured on her thigh. June couldn't help but chuckle at the scene, the frustrated-to-the-point-of-open-rage Arcee not hiding the way she felt about the situation and taking off, leaving Smokescreen calling after her seductively. Sure, it was the analgesic talking, but it was pretty clear the younger bot held something beautiful for the slightly older femme, who –it seemed- wasn't that keen of the idea.

She turned her attention back to Optimus and Ratchet and was amused by how concentrated they were, having missed the scene altogether. What was more amusing was how their exchanges resembled that of an old married couple, the longer she listened in. 'Now, there's a thought'; she closed her eyes, shaking her head.

Optimus then got up and left to retrieve some other tool that was needed, and suddenly June's thoughts were interrupted by Ratchet who seemingly had gotten back the capacity to register his surroundings again with the leader away from his line of sight, and immediately charged towards Smokescreen who was attempting to get up from the berth. The ambulance tried to make him go lay down again, using an exaggeratingly demanding tone, too; she noticed.

It struck June a little odd. It had been obvious Ratchet was more worried about Smokescreen than himself, or anyone else involved in the accident. Granted, she supposed all doctors were like that sometimes, but she had a feeling Ratchet was keeping a special eye on Smokescreen, being reminded by what had happened between them in the hangar before they had left. She couldn't quite put a finger on it, but at least to her his worry seemed quite exaggerated, for whatever reason it was.

A loud crash was heard, making June lose her train of thought. Smokescreen had fallen on the ground for not having believed Ratchet's warnings and was now sitting in there with a clueless look on his face. Optimus was already on his way to help, as Ratchet was letting out a series of very creative profanities.

June sighed. This had really been a long day, and didn't seem to get any better any time soon.


	5. Chapter 5

"Ep ep ep; the other way around!" Ratchet complained, snatching the equipment from Optimus' digits and turning it around. "Now, carefully. Like I explained you."

"I'm sorry, Ratchet. I'll try my best." Optimus said, looking embarrassed. He tried again and this time succeeded in what he was supposed to do.

The medic sighed in relief. He knew the leader had never done anything like this before, and him being so much bigger –and thus clumsier in the touch– than Ratchet, made it difficult for him to not only understand what he was supposed to do, but also to perform adequately. The ambulance knew it would have been wiser to ask Arcee to do this, but in his stubbornness Optimus had insisted on doing it himself as it –he claimed– really was his fault it happened the first place. Not that Ratchet cared; he just wanted his servo fixed ASAP.

And preferably, to have his personal space for himself again. Being so close to Optimus was… dangerous.

"Alright, what do I do now?" Optimus asked, having finished his current task. Ratchet looked down, and nodded approvingly. It was sloppy, of course, if compared to his work; but it would have to suffice.

"The following step will require some caution, so pay attention carefully. You will need to work with both of your hands simultaneously." he said, careful to not look Optimus in the optics, fearing he might lose his train of thought, if he did.

"You will need to hold this wire here with the tweezers, and attach it in this panel right here." he instructed, pointing down to a small loose wire inside his servo. "But you need to be careful, it gets loose very easily again, if not attached properly. You also need to be wary of the sides to the panel. Do not touch them with the welder in any circumstances, or we may have to replace the whole thing."

"I see." Optimus said, looking around. "The tweezers are right here…." he murmured, picking them up from the table right next to where he sat. Halfway turning back though, he accidently dropped them on the floor.

"Awh, Optimus! We needed those!" Ratchet exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, it was my bad." Optimus said, bending down to pick them up.

"I swear to Primus you're all… … … a-aaah… …" Ratchet was suddenly purposelessly silenced by an invading servo landing right on his thigh. Optimus was supporting himself there, picking up the fallen item and straightening up again, handling the tweezers in his digits way smoother this time.

"Do not worry, old friend. They seem to be still working just fine." he said, with a small smile. If he had noticed Ratchet's strange reaction, he didn't show any indication of it.

"We-well, g-good. Th-then, get to work." the flustered medic stuttered, quickly turning his face to the other direction. He waited for a while, but nothing happened.

"Uh, Ratchet?" Optimus' tone was hesitant.

A look of dread appeared on Ratchet's faceplate, but Optimus didn't see it from where he was sitting.

"Where is the welding device?"

If this were an anime, Ratchet would have fallen on the floor right this moment.

"The, what? Oh, yes, yes, the welding... Um, of course… Uh, I'd h-have one right here if I were able to transform this servo…" He pointed to the arm Optimus was currently trying to fix. "I-I think there's a spare one somewhere over there." he said, pointing to the other side of the room, where a huge pile of all sorts of tools and other equipment lay.

Optimus nodded and got up.

Ratchet sighed. It was days like these that he seriously doubted the wisdom of his choice to ever arriving to the Outpost Omega-1.

And then, there was Smokescreen. Ratchet hadn't recognized him at first, but as soon as he mentioned Alpha Trion… he knew. He silently cursed his luck, being certain it was only some cruel joke Primus had decided to play on him. Again. The medic swore, if he'd ever get his servos on Alpha Trion... Even facing Unicron himself would be sparkling play compared to what he'd planned for the ancient.

Speaking of Smokescreen… Ratchet's attention was immediately drawn to the movement he saw on the berth the other bot lay on. Was he trying to…? He spun up immediately, rushing towards the youngster.

"Smokescreen, what in the name of Primus are you doing?"

"Where is Arcee? She mean; leave me here all alone." the younger bot, high on the analgesic, fake-cried.

"Don't you dare try to get up, or I swear…" the medic warned.

"I want Arcee. She pretty. I like pretty." the younger bot cooed, clearly not listening to what the elder was saying. He'd managed to sit somewhat upright and was making shaky attempts to putting his pedes down on the floor.

"Smokescreen, you better stop what you're doing this instant, unless you want to end up on the floor!"

"She make my roddy feel funny. I want her to touch my roddy." the love-struck bot cooed, slowly stroking over his codpiece to get the point across.

"Of course, of course. I understand you like her, that's normal for a bot of your age. But you're not really in sound judgment at the moment." Ratchet tried reasoning with the younger bot, fearing what might happen next. He was so not ready to witness the youngster's first attempts at self-service. Had he known Smokescreen was this sensitive to the side effects of the analgesic; he never would have given him any.

Thankfully, that didn't happen, but what did was that Smokescreen tried to stand; and fell on the floor.

"Smokescreen!" Ratchet yelled, adding a list of profanities to make his frustration clear.

Thankfully, Optimus saw what happened and rushed to the help.

"What happened?" the leader asked, holding the welding apparatus he'd been looking for.

"Oh, nothing. Romeo here just thought it would be a nice time to go for a long walk on the beach with Arcee." Ratchet commented, his words dripping with sarcasm.

Optimus just stared at them, the context clearly lost on him. Ratchet spotted what the leader was holding and snatched it with his working servo.

"This will come in handy. Might just weld this hero's aft to the ceiling. Should keep him staying still for at least a full solar cycle!"

"When did you get so big? Why my aft feel so sore?" Smokescreen uttered, his helm spinning around a little.

"I better lift you back up." Optimus stated. Soon the junior of their team was strictly tucked in the berth, with straps going around him to keep him from getting any more great ideas that involved walking on an ill-functioning pede. Smokescreen himself had fallen into sound recharge.

It was then that Arcee chose to reappear. She didn't so much as glance at Smokescreen but went straight for June, who was quietly watching the bots.

"Jack called, I need to pick him up from work. Come, I'll take you home too. Considering the circumstances, I bet Ratchet won't mind."

"Be my guest!" was his immediate reply.

"Oh, don't sound so pleased." June commented, chuckling. Arcee transformed, and June hopped on.  
"Alright, let's go. I'll see you later, doctor!" the nurse waved, before Arcee stepped on the gas, sprinting forward.

The medic merely rolled his optics. Humans.

With that over, Optimus and Ratchet finally managed to return to what they had been doing. The first welding was successful but the second… Ratchet knew he should have kept a better care of his spare tools; and now it cost him. The machine died in mid-use. Thankfully his servo was now functional enough for him to transform in his vehicle mode, but he'd still need to keep it strapped, to avoid using it.

Optimus, feeling terrible for not being able to help his friend any further, decided to join with Bumblebee and Bulkhead in stocking the energon, and then trying to fix his trailer.

Ratchet merely sat down, and covered his faceplate. He might as well start refining the energon.

Later that night, when everyone else was already in recharge, Ratchet was still up making sure everything was set up according to his standards when an alarm on the computer suddenly went off. Someone was trying to contact the base. Ratchet went over to the console and was surprised to see who it was.

"Wheeljack to Autobot outpost Omega-1. Do you copy?"

Ratchet rushed to answer. "This is Outpost Omega-1. I hear you loud and clear, Wheeljack."

"Ratchet? Figures you'd be the one to answer the phone. How's everything going in there?"

Ratchet frowned. "Wheeljack, it's late and we've had a very long day. Everyone else is already in recharge. I don't believe you of all mechs would make social calls, so please, do us a favor and state your business so we can get over it."

"Tsk, touchy." Wheeljack noted. "But alright, you caught me. I had a… Little accident with the Jackhammer. Nothing serious, just need to fix her up, but meanwhile I'm going to need a place to stay. Mind if I crash in for a few weeks?"

Ratchet closed his optics, shaking his helm. How typical. Then, and idea hit him.

"Alright, but you're going to live by our rules, is that clear? And you're going to have to earn your stay."

"Crystal. Didn't think anything else was applicable." the Wrecker stated, sounding surprisingly sincere.

"Alright, with that out of the way… Do you happen have a working welding machine? Or have you ever fixed a wrecked transformation sequence in a servo unit?"

"Sure do, got plenty of tools. And I might just have. Why, what happened? Bulkhead crashed on you or something?" the engineer sneered, not realizing how close to the truth he hit.

"That's exactly what happened. Optimus tried to fix it a little, but it's hopeless. You think you can do it?"

"Hah, well I'll be... No problem, I'll handle it. By the way, do you happen to have any energon to spare? I think I might need some for Jackhammer."

"Actually, we just might. We did just retrieve our biggest batch to the date, after all." Ratchet bragged.

"Wow. You think you could refine some high grade? That would sure hit the spot."

"You know what. With today having been the way it was… I just might do that."

"Sounds great! Open up the bridge, I'll send you the coordinates."

The call ended and an alarm went on as the computer received Wheeljack's message.

Ratchet didn't pay much attention though as he entered the code and opened the bridge, as he was busy thinking what Wheeljack had said. Some high grade would really hit the spot indeed.


	6. Chapter 6

"WHEELJACK!" Bulkhead's joyous exclaim echoed in the hallways, making Ratchet's audio receptors glitch. It was certain if someone still wasn't yet aware of the other Wrecker's presence in the base, they sure were now.

"How you doing, buddy? So great to have you here again! Oh, I can't wait to tell Miko about this!" the green Wrecker chattered in excitement, giving the smaller engineer a big bear hug.

"Good to see you too, Bulk. Way to go, I heard you crushed Doc's servo unit to scrap." Wheeljack replied.

"Oh, you heard about that?" the big, clumsy bot asked, sounding embarrassed.

"And Smokescreen's pede. And I might add that smoothing all the dents your massive hide caused on Bumblebee alone is going to take me an eternity!" Ratchet added with a snappy tone, clearly not having recharged well.

"Aw, give me a break, Ratch'! It wasn't all me. If it hadn't been for Prime's…" Bulkhead protested, but didn't get to finish his sentence as Wheeljack cut in, surprised.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa; you saying Prime was with you on this? I'm liking your style, Bulk!" he complimented, slapping his friend on the back in a friendly manner.

"No, no! It was an accident!" the green bot explicated, waving his open palms in front, putting an emphasis on the point he was making.

"Sure, of course. As always, just an accident." The older Wrecker teased, winking at his friend.

"Jackie, I'm serious!" Bulkhead said, in defense. "We were rushing from the cons in through the ground bridge, Prime had his trailer packed full of energon crates with him, miscalculated something and drove in too fast; and BAM! We all ran head first into his rear bumper when he suddenly hit the brakes trying to avoid smashing to the wall back there. "

"Sheesh, Bulk! What's happened to you? You know I was just playing with ya. Where's your sense of humor?" Wheeljack complained.

"And that still doesn't mean it wasn't you who pancaked us there, Bulkhead." Ratchet noted, while en route to the medical bay.

Once he'd exited the room, Bulkhead sighed. "That's what happened to me. Trust me, Jackie; you don't want to get to the Doc's bad side."

"Wow, what a hard-aft. Primus, when you think was the last time the Doc got some, anyway? He's in a serious need."

"Uhhhh…" Uttered Bulkhead, with a disgusted look on his face. "You don't want to go there, pal. Trust me."

Wheeljack stared his friend for a good long while, not understanding his odd reaction.

"High grade." he clarified.

"What?" the green Wrecker blinked.

"High grade. When you think was the last time he got some high grade?" The smaller mech repeated.

"Oohhhh. I got ya. Phew!" Bulkhead sighed in relief.

"What did you think I meant, then? Geez, Bulk! You're worse than I am!"

Bulkhead didn't say anything, just looked around, his shoulders slumped, clearly embarrassed.

"What's with everyone in this base? Good thing ol' Jackie's here to make it all better." the older Wrecker said, clearly exaggerating his charm.

"Uh, that's great. But I need to go now; have to take Miko to school." the bigger mech stated, awkwardly. As if right on cue, Bumblebee walked past them, whirred a greeting, then transformed and drove off to get Raf.

"I'll see you later, buddy!" Bulkhead said, transforming and driving after the yellow scout.

"Later, Bulk." Wheeljack waved to his buddy, and wearing a determined smirk, went to retrieve something from his new quarters in the base.

In the medical bay, Ratchet was keeping an eye on the energon refining process and occasionally glanced at Smokescreen, who seemed to be stirring on the berth he was strapped on. So far, he hadn't uttered a beep though, so Ratchet thought ignoring him was probably the best for now. May the kid awaken in the reality on his own accord.

He was adjusting some of the parts of the refining device, when Wheeljack strode in, carrying something.

"May all your worries be gone, Wheeljack has come to the rescue!" he proclaimed, setting the device on a table next to the energon refining equipment.

"What on Cybertron is that?" Ratchet asked pointing to the piece of machinery; sounding grumpy, as usual.

The Wrecker just smirked smugly and began introducing the apparatus.

"This, my friend, is my pride and joy. It's an invention of mine that will revolutionize your energon refinery."

"Bold text coming from someone whose inventions won't usually make it to their maiden voyage before blowing up. And yes, even I have heard of your mishaps." was the medic's skeptical reply.

"Ah, you misunderstand. This isn't just some random new invention I just made up and haven't even tested yet. This is an older one, one that I've successfully used at least a few dozen times. Hasn't blown up yet, so I think it's pretty safe to say it works just fine." the engineer sweet-talked.

"Fine, whatever. What does it even do?" Ratchet asked trying to not sound too interested. He didn't want to send out the wrong idea, even if he was secretly very intrigued by the machine. He had a reputation to keep up, after all!

"I call it the High-Grade Might Aid. Catchy, huh?" He sniggered, not at all fazed by Ratchet who only rolled around his optics at what he said.

"It speeds up the refining process by up to five hundred percent, without affecting the quality."

Now that caught even the medic's attention.

"Five hundred percent? That's insane! How is that even possible?" the ambulance asked, astounded.

"Ah-ahh! Manufacturer's secret. But, how about it? Want to test it out?" was Wheeljack's smug reply.

"You even need to ask?" Ratchet exclaimed, immediately making more room next to his own energon refineries. Wheeljack caught on what Ratchet had in mind and brought the machine closer.

"Alright, now you're talking. Ok, let's hook this baby up."

Ratchet and Wheeljack worked with the energon refineries for a good while, and so far it seemed the Wrecker was telling the truth about his invention. It indeed seemed to be refining the energon way faster than his equipment ever did. He didn't tell it to the engineer of course, but secretly he was feeling very giddy about this. He hated admitting it for himself, but the idea of fresh high grade made his tank rumbling.

Once the refining process was going at the point it no longer needed constant surveillance, Ratchet had Wheeljack fixing his broken servo. Once it was done (Ratchet was sure to send his thanks to Primus the moment Wheeljack had finished), they went to see how Smokescreen was doing.

The poor kid was in a completely opposite state compared to how he'd been the day before. He was awake, had been for a while now, but hadn't bothered moving or saying anything, for that matter. In fact, he looked exactly like he'd just heard his favorite techno puppy had gone offline.

"Hey, kid. What's the matter?" Wheeljack asked, as he and Ratchet removed the straps around the young bot.

"Awh-ahaah…" Smokescreen cried, covering his optics with his hands.

"Gave him an analgesic yesterday. Won't be making that mistake again, that's for sure." Ratchet replied, studying how far Arcee had gotten into fixing the poor youngster's pede. It seemed to be almost done; it wouldn't take long for Wheeljack to fix the rest.

"Oh, one of those sensitive types? I get it." the Wrecker noted, being familiar with the symptoms.

"I really screwed that up, didn't I?" Smokescreen cried.

"Oh, and yeah, there was also… that." the medic noted, not bothering on elaborating and left to get some tools.

"Why? What happened?" Wheeljack asked, curious.

"Arcee. She was fixing my pede and the alan…analgesic made me feel all weird and her touch felt so good and I couldn't control myself. And now she hates me!"

"Aww, don't worry, kid. I'm sure she understands." The old Wrecker consoled.

"Y-you don't get it. I came onto her! I couldn't k-keep my hands to myself. A-and I think I literally asked her to… to pleasure me." Smokescreen stuttered, continuing to weep.

"Oh… Well, that… is pretty bad." the Wrecker grimaced, looking away from the crying youngster.

"I really screwed it up! She's so beautiful and what I did was so… wrong. I'll be lucky if she'll ever talk to me again!"

Smokescreen continued his self-pitying, while the engineer was finally catching on what the real problem was. With a knowing smile, he stood up and walked to the foot side of the berth.

"Oh, that's how it is, huh?" he chuckled. "Tell you what, kid. Let me fix up this pede of yours and then, uncle Wheeljack is going to tell you a few things about fembots."


	7. Chapter 7

Later that afternoon, Ratchet was waiting just outside of the Jasper Hospital. He was parked a little further from the main entrance, to avoid being in the way if other emergency vehicles brought in more human patients; but also so that nobody mistakenly thought he was a part of their arsenal and tried taking him for an emergency mission. Now that would be awkward.  
June had had an early morning shift, so she was due to leave any minute now. Ratchet was trying to fight the urge to shift his weight around on the wheels. His damaged but now fixed servo was beginning to ache and it felt really uncomfortable to stay in his alt-mode for longer periods. He was certain he'd give the nurse a piece of his processor when she'd finally decide to show up. What on Cybertron was taking her so long?

As if on cue, he sighed out of relief as saw June Darby exiting the big, white building. She was looking around, definitely trying to spot where he was. She didn't seem to notice him though, so he decided to speed things up a little and let a beep escape his horn. As predicted, it did the trick. In an instant Jack's mother was next to him and he opened the passenger's side door.

"Aren't you punctual." she said, smiling, as she climbed in. "Oh, and how's your servo? Better, I hope?"

"First: you're late. Second: sore as scrap, thanks to letting me wait for so long." was the Autobot medic's snappy reply, as he started his engine and began driving towards the base.

June frowned at that. "Didn't I tell you that my shift ends at 2pm?"

"Yes. And it's 2:15 now."

June's frown suddenly changed, as what he meant dawned on her.

"Ohh… Yes, of course. I'm sorry; I didn't realize… I guess I should have been more specific." she apologized.

"On what? That your shift ending at 2pm means 2:15 instead? Yes, that would have been helpful." was Ratchet's ever-so-sarcastic reply.

"Yes. Well, no. My shift did end at 2pm. But you see, before I get to leave, I first need to change my clothes, use the bathroom and freshen up a little. So yes, I guess I should have mentioned that even if my shift ends at a certain time, it takes me at least this long before I'm able to leave." she explained.

Ratchet didn't say anything, just kept on driving.

"I'm really sorry for this. I hope your servo feels better soon." she sighed, and looked out of the window with a very remorseful look on her face. However frustrated, tired and sore Ratchet had felt until then; seeing her like that his foul mood began to slowly melt away making him feel a sting in his spark.

"Don't worry about it. Wheeljack fixed it, so it is only a matter of time before it's back to normal."

Hearing that, made June perk up a little.

"Wheeljack?" she asked. "Who is Wheeljack?"

"A rogue Autobot. He travelled around in space for quite some time and has been on Earth a while now. He is staying with us until he's fixed his ship back up again. He arrived late last night."

"Oh. What is he like?" she asked, curious to hear there was more Autobots around.

"A Wrecker, like Bulkhead; the two go way back. He's a pain in the aft at best; insubordinate, negligent, selfish and an overconfident, walking disaster at worst."

"Wow. Your favorite bot to be around then, huh?" June commented, rolling her eyes.

Ratchet snorted. "The only good thing about him is that he will hopefully keep Bulkhead occupied enough to not go around crashing on you or stepping on something… or someone. Though, then again… it could be just getting out of the scrapheap and into the smelter."

"How so?" June asked, leaning on her arm.

"Well, I didn't say he was a walking disaster for nothing. He's been an engineer and an inventor of sorts since before the war. It's just that his inventions tend to blow up more often than not."

"No kidding." was June's wide-eyed response.

"Don't worry. There won't be any of that while I'm around at the base." Ratchet consoled the woman who was clearly very concerned all of a sudden.

"He's busy with Smokescreen at the moment, so it should be alright. If not, I'll weld both of their afts to the ceiling."

The wide-eyed June sat quietly, avoiding any sudden movements for the remainder of the ride. Judging the way Smokescreen had been the last time she'd seen him, she didn't want to think just what kind of 'busy' the two might be involved in…

In no more than a few minutes, Ratchet had arrived back at the base. He let June out before he transformed and went immediately back to the console, examining the screens. June looked around, and quickly came to the conclusion nobody else was present. She faintly remembered Arcee mentioning about the rest of the gang going to some scouting mission today, so that's where she assumed they were now.

She heard noises from the medical bay. For just a split second June let her guard down and let her curiosity get the best of her, not really thinking what it might be and went to have a look…

…Only to witness something she knew she would never be able to 'un-see'.

There was Smokescreen. Sitting on the same berth as yesterday. Holding Wheeljack's hands. On a very close proximity. And professing his undying love for him.

"R-Ratchet…" Was the only thing the nurse managed to utter, and was finally able to blink after staring at the scene wide-eyed for a full minute. Ratchet sighed out loud and walked towards the petrified woman.

"What is it… WHAT BY THE PIT IS GOING ON IN HERE!?"

The pair disassembled immediately, Smokescreen blushing fiercely, causing Wheeljack to burst out laughing.

"N-nothing! This is not what it looks like!" Smokescreen cowered, fearing what the enraged medic might do.

Wheeljack just kept on laughing. "Easy there, doc. He's right. Pfffft! Mech, you couldn't have had a better timing!"

He choked and stopped in an instant though as Ratchet's hand was suddenly strangling him and holding him down; his other hand pushing a blade right towards his spark.

"You have 5 seconds to explain yourself."

Wheeljack sputtered for a while, his processor trying to catch up with what had just happened.

"What's wrong with you, put that away!" he complained, pushing Ratchet's blade back. "I was just giving the kid some advice on how to impress a femme! Tell him, Smokes!" Wheeljack looked at the poor youngster, whose expression practically screamed that the severely embarrassed youth wished the berth would somehow devour him, saving his face from this humiliation.

"Y-yeah." Smokescreen admitted, holding a hand over his face. "H-he convinced me that all I needed was some self-confidence and the best way to obtain it was through practice. He told me to pretend he was Arcee and to tell him how I felt about her so that I wouldn't freeze up when the real deal happened."

"Yeah, see?" the engineer pointed at the younger bot. "No harm done."

Ratchet eyed at the two of them, before finally retracting his blade and relaxing.

"Alright… then, you may proceed." he just said, and retreated back into the main hangar.

The trio was left baffled in the med bay. Nobody said anything, so Wheeljack decided to break the silence.

"What… the pit was that all about?"

June still felt a little awkward, but decided to speak anyway.

"Well… Your position did look a little… Incriminating… from where he stood." She hesitantly stated.

"But still. It's not like Smokes was a youngling anymore. You've been in your adult frame for a good long while now, right?" the Wrecker asked.

"Uh, right." The younger bot confirmed.

"Yeah. And it's not like the Doc bot is his creator or anything." the engineer justified, shrugging his shoulder plates.  
"Anyways, Smokes. Where were we?"

Meanwhile, in the main hangar, Ratchet was typing something on the console, while mumbling under his breath, clearly very displeased about something. Suddenly, the proximity sensor began to alarm. Ratchet slumped down and sighed in defeat. This just wasn't his day.

The others heard the noise and walked in the lobby - Smokescreen last with his limp-, just in time to see the door to the humans' second floor platform opening up and Agent Fowler charging in.

"PRIME!" he yelled in a demanding tone.

"Optimus is out on a mission, Agent Fowler. What is it?" Ratchet asked, annoyed.

"Can someone please tell me why there is an alien ship crashed down on a cornfield in the middle of North Dakota?" the agent shouted, walking on the platform towards the red-and-white bot.

Ratchet didn't need to hear more to be able to do the math and yelled: "WHEELJACK!"

"Eh heh… Err… Ooops?" the engineer grinned awkwardly, lifting up his servos. "I didn't realize it wasn't secluded enough."

The agent facepalmed at what he heard. "It could maybe have been even less secluded if you had crashed it in the middle of a town! This comes as a good second, though." he barked.

"I want it cleared away by tonight, understand!? Bribing the farmer into silence is the easy part. It's the damn conspiracy theorists I'm worried about. This could not only blow up your cover, but arouse some serious questions from foreign nations who'd see something like that as a threat. I'm really hoping they will buy the fallen space junk story we made up before… oh…" the agent ranted on, but stopped suddenly when he saw June, who had just climbed up the ladder to the platform.

"Mrs. Darby… Eh…Hi, I didn't see you there." he awkwardly greeted her.

"Agent Fowler." she nodded at him.

"What… Eh, if I may ask? What a-are you doing here?" the Agent stuttered, his attraction to the woman obvious.

Ratchet noticed this, thought for a while and then turned to Smokescreen.

"Hey." He said, catching his attention, and tossed his helm towards the two humans. "I suggest you take notes."

Wheeljack understood immediately what Ratchet meant: "Them? Are you serious?"

"Oh, I'm positive. Just look."

The bots commenced to watch the humans' verbal exchange. Smokescreen thought it had to be the strangest courting ritual he'd ever witnessed. Poor Fowler didn't stand a chance when June assured him the bots would take care of the wreck and ushered him to leave. Once he was gone, Ratchet sighed out of relief.

"Good riddance." he noted.

"Indeed." she agreed.

Before anyone noticed, Ratchet exited in the med bay and returned holding an armful of energon cubes, continuing to walking towards the bots' quarters.

"Hey, that's my high grade!" the poor engineer exclaimed, worried over the fate of his newly refined batch.

"Which you now owe me. Optimus and the others will be back soon, guard the console and handle he ground bridge. I'm officially quitting for the day." the grumpy doctor declared and left.

The others were just left baffled in the hangar, looking after him. They all wondered just how exhausted the medic had to be to do something that uncharacteristic.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's another chapter! I hope you guys enjoy!

Optimus Prime and the rest of the team were about to head back home after another successful mission. Against all odds they'd happened to stumble upon some more energon; this time it had been in an underground mine – and had not been picked up on by the Decepticons. The trailer now full again – he really couldn't believe their luck – the Prime was about to call for a ground bridge. He didn't have chance though, when he suddenly received an incoming message. It was Smokescreen.

"Smokescreen? What is it?" he asked, pressing the button on the cover of his audio receptor.

"Uh, Prime… You guys might want to come back to base; the sooner the better. We have… Some issues. Probably should discuss the details after you get here." the younger bot explained, sounding a little unsure.

"Send in the bridge. We are coming." the leader replied, wondering what could have happened; and cut the connection.

It didn't take long until the cyan green vortex appeared and the group rolled in.

Smokescreen was at the console when they arrived back.

Optimus, this time in no rush, had driven in with caution. He let go of his trailer and transformed, perhaps with a bit too much care than was necessary. It was apparent though what was going through his mind; they didn't need yet another accident.

"Is something the matter, Smokescreen? Where is Ratchet?" he asked, surprised by not seeing their Medic in his standard spot by the large screens.

It was then, when they all heard a huge crash and yelling coming from the hallway to the bots' quarters. It sounded like Wheeljack and it seemed he was trying to… pummel down a door?

"Open up, can't we talk about this?" Wheeljack pleaded, and slammed the door again.

"Give me a break, Ratchet! You can't just go taking other people's high-grade like that! Give it back, now!" The Wrecker demanded, punching the door again; his uncharacteristically restless demeanor making the entire scene even more bizarre than it already was.

Optimus decided to reboot both his optics and audio receptors, just in case, to make sure he was seeing and hearing everything right. What in the name of Primus was going on?

"You can just… go make some more, with that fancy pansy device of yoursh! There'sh plenty where these came from!" Ratchet answered, his voice beginning to slur a little though only Wheeljack could make it out.

"Open the door, or I will weld it open! I mean it!" the engineer warned, and Optimus prayed Wheeljack was only trying his luck.

Ratchet called the bluff immediately.

"Whatever! Won't do you much good though, 'sh not like there'sh much left anywaysh… Heheheh!"

Hearing that made Wheeljack finally lose his temper.

"Oh, you glitching, spawn of a…" he began, bringing out his blaster, but halted when the Autobot leader suddenly appeared next to him, and caught him before he fired at the door.

"Wheeljack." The Prime began, radiating authority and sounding as calm as ever. "Can you please explain what is going on in here?"

A few minutes later, everyone had heard the short version of what happened.

"…So then, he just leaves, without saying a word, goes and takes all my high grade and locks himself in his quarters! And drinks them all up, just so that I couldn't get them back! Tell me that this is normal." the engineer finished his story in frustration.

Optimus was quiet for a moment, deep in thought. This most definitely wasn't like their Medic.

"I'm sure Ratchet had a good reason for what he did, whatever it was. I shall handle him accordingly once this is over with. However, a more pressing matter now is to bring your ship on a safer location."

"Alright, fine." Wheeljack gave in. "But I'm going to need energon. I knew the Jackhammer was running low and I was looking for more, when she suddenly couldn't stay airborne anymore and I had to crash-land her where she is now. I can only hope the ship wasn't so badly damaged that I won't be able to get her to move, provided she gets enough energon to do so."

"I think we should have enough in our possession in order to do that. But the refining process must stay continuous meanwhile to compensate the resulting temporary shortage of our consumable energon."

"Won't be a problem; Ratchet has already refined some more, and if I change my invention's setting from high-grade to regular, you should be able to cover the shortage in only a matter of hours with how much unprocessed energon you now have lying around."

"It is a deal, then." The Prime agreed.

"Autobots!" he called. "First we need to empty and restock my trailer. After it is done, we shall go through the ground bridge to move Wheeljack's ship."

It didn't take long until the trailer's content had been switched to cubes of refined energon. Smokescreen was left to handle ground bridge duty in the base while the others left to take care of the job since he hadn't recovered to 100% yet. Ratchet was still locked in his quarters, and was probably pretty overcharged at the moment. Though it wasn't until the vortex had died down when the young bot was reminded he wasn't all alone in the hangar:

"How are you feeling?" June asked, appearing next to him.

"Oh, hey." Smokescreen answered, feeling awkward for not remembering she was around.

"Better, I guess. It's still a bit hard to walk around, but that should fix itself in a few days' time, as long as I don't stress it."

"That's great, but I wasn't talking about your leg." June smiled.

Her eyes narrowed in mirth as the meaning of what she said finally dawned on the confused sports car, the resulting embarrassment becoming clear in his demeanor.

"O-oh, that." the poor youngster stuttered. "As well as can be expected, I guess."

"What about you?" he suddenly asked.

June was taken aback a little.

"Me?"

"Oh, that agent guy. Isn't he into you?" the young bot asked innocently.

"Oh. OH. Ummm, yeah. Let's not go there." June stated, realizing what he meant.

"I'm just gonna say; after my experiences with men, it takes a lot more than that to spark my interest."

"What do you mean?" Smokescreen asked, not missing his chance on getting some useful information.

"I need to know for certain that I can trust them first. They need to prove themselves to be worthy of my interest… So that I won't end up the same way than with the others before."

June let out a sigh, while Smokescreen was quiet; not knowing what to say.

"… I guess, in a way, Arcee is the same."

Hearing that made the young bot perk up and stare at her with interest.

"Do you know what happened to her?" she asked.

"N-no, not really. What do you mean? What happened?" the sports car asked, sounding a little worried.

"She's lost two of her previous partners. To the cons." she said, almost whispering.

"No…" he uttered, sounding horrified.

"The other one was relatively recently, too, I've understood." she continued.

"Oh, man. That's… terrible. I've heard someone mention about a Cliffjumper once, but I had no idea he was Arcee's… Now I understand." Smokescreen said, sighing sadly in the end.

"I don't know the details of what her relationship to them was, exactly. But I know this: she isn't ready to lose yet another." the nurse continued, her eyes softly wandering to the dark corners of the hall.

The newcomer looked down, nodding vaguely.

"I think I understand what you're saying."

June nodded absent mindedly, thinking about the situation.

"You're younger than her, aren't you?" she asked.

"Yes… I think I heard her mention once she was just about to have her third upgrade when the war began. I was sparked around that time."

Hearing this intrigued the nurse.

"Sparked?"

"Born." Smokescreen clarified.

"You know…. I've been meaning to ask. How does that… work for you guys?"

"Uh, what do you mean? The aging?" he asked, confused.

"Among… other things…" the nurse replied, cryptically.

"Well, umm… From what I've understood, we are pretty similar to you; with a few exceptions. Our protoform slowly grows over time, but when nearing certain stages in life, we usually receive upgrades to accommodate said stage better. It has its benefits."

"I see." June replied. "You also have two parents and everything?"

"Yes. The older generations came from the Allspark, but the ones ever since from bonded pairs."

"And your 'bonding' is like our 'marriage'?"

"I… think so." the bot answered, not very familiar with the concept.

That made June smile. Finally, some answers!

"Tell me about your family. Do you have any siblings?" she asked, beaming.

"Oh… Um…" Smokescreen uttered, suddenly seeming to find the floor very interesting, his gaze awkwardly shifting back and forth. Seeing it made June panic a little inside. Had she said something wrong?

"Are you okay? You don't have to answer, if it's too personal…" she began, but was cut off.

"No, no… It's fine. You just didn't know. Even if I had any siblings, I wouldn't know about it. I never knew my creators."

"Oh, I'm so sorry… I had no idea." the nurse said, now full of remorse.

"Don't worry about it. I was raised by an old, wise mech called Alpha Trion. He taught me everything I know. He was very fond of Optimus and spoke of him often, so my admirations of him kind of grew on me, you know? He also told me that one day, I could be just like Optimus if I wanted to. That's how I knew I was destined for greatness. And look where I am now! On a far-away planet; serving in the same squadron as him. So, please, don't feel sorry for me. As far as I'm concerned, things couldn't have turned out better."

The two kept talking about this and that for a good while, until Smokescreen received a comm. message from Optimus, asking for a bridge. The ship was now successfully hidden away in a cave somewhere in the Rocky Mountains near the Canadian border, and they were ready to come home.

When they arrived, Wheeljack went directly in the med bay to check on the energon refining process; and as Ratchet was still nowhere to be seen, Arcee offered to take June home. As they left, Optimus looked after them, deep in thought. He would have to have a talk with Ratchet.


	9. Chapter 9

Ratchet sat on the floor in front of the door to his quarters. Optimus had just taken Wheeljack in the hangar and was getting his version of the story. Locking the door had been a wise decision; there was no way he was going to see anyone, especially the Prime, right now.

He looked at his surroundings. Unorganized datapads were littering the desk and the shelves, broken tools and some other belongings scattered here and there. Not too bad, but not many would believe it from the usually very organized and tidy mech. Next to him lay the cubes of Wheeljack's (since when did he claim them to be his, anyway? The device may have been his but wasn't it their energon and didn't they make the cubes together?) high-grade, only one of which was currently empty. He reached out for another and began drinking it, slowly, savoring the taste. It was heavenly.

Ratchet was amused by the engineer's reaction when he'd bluffed having drunk them all already and being more overcharged than he was. Truth to be told, the one cube he'd had barely got his energy levels back to normal. Up until recently, their energon reserves had been devastatingly low, so Ratchet had done what he'd always done in situations like that… Cut down his own rations, thinking the others needed the precious blue liquid more than he did. He was old, didn't go on the battlefield, rarely ever got as much as a scratch on himself, and didn't go out much anyway. Yeah, the others were much better off with the little energon they'd had.

Not that Ratchet had taken full rations for decades anymore. Normally, he'd taken 2/3 of the recommended rations for a bot of his caliber; but as the energon reserves kept getting smaller, he'd at first cut down to half rations, and as of late, to as low as a third of a ration. He knew it was low, but he'd calculated that with his old age and low activity rate, the small amount should only lower some of his core functions from 100% to around 55-60%, which was enough to get by. Any lower than that, though, and he wouldn't be able to perform his job adequately anymore. Even as it was, he'd noticed that any amount of extra stress caused him to lose his ability to concentrate, made him more irritable and tired him in a completely new level.

So, he thought it was pretty well argued that for once in his life… especially with everything that had happened lately… he needed the break; and the high-grade.

The medic lowered the cube from his lip components and vented out a sigh. He couldn't remember the last time he could afford such luxury... Or, had a full tank for that matter. He sat down there for a good while, and finished his second cube. He'd pretended to be drunk earlier, but this time the slightly tipsy feeling was for real. Nothing too major though, just enough to loosen him up.

With a newly found strength, Ratchet lifted himself up and landed the remaining cubes on his desk, after removing the datapads and showing them in a random shelf. His action caused dust to spread out into the open air, and for the first time the medic realized just how messy his room was, exactly. Perhaps he should clean it up.

He collected all the datapads he had lying around and blew air on them through his vents, though it didn't seem to work on the lower layers of the dust. Ratchet just shrugged it off, and showed the datapads in the shelf; and realized they were no longer in the order he'd once arranged them in. How long ago was it, the last time he'd even looked at these anyway? He glanced through some of them, but soon wished he hadn't. Lifting up a big pile, not thinking much about it, his eyes were soon fixed on a certain datapad that had appeared from underneath. Its' very essence radiated something that seemed to freeze the time itself.

The medic stood still for a while, not at first believing what he was seeing. He began slowly and ceremoniously to putting down the pile in his servos, as he sat down on the chair by the desk that was right next to the large bookcase, his gaze never leaving its target. The medic vented out air and briefly closed his optics; his spark suddenly feeling exceptionally heavy. He slowly reached out for the pad, gently picking it up, and turned it on. It was a photo album. An album he'd had since before the war began – full of memories he'd rather not any longer remember; and yet, he'd never had the spark to throw it away. He began shuffling through it. Seeing one particular picture made the medic wince and turn his optics away as he swiftly turned the pad off. No, he would not let his thoughts go there again. He rushed to put it back on the shelf and the pile atop of it, not even bothering to straighten it up.

Anxiety building within, Ratchet felt he needed to get out. He gathered the empty cubes and silently exited his quarters. He heard June talking with Smokescreen. Thankfully, they both had their backs turned on him, so he soundlessly sneaked into the med bay. While in, he noted how Wheeljack had now made his invention into producing regular grade energon. He peeked at his own refineries, and noticed that despite his had been working non-stop for even longer than Wheeljack's, they even counted together hadn't produced so much as a half of the energon the Wrecker's device had already done.

Realizing this, made the old bot suddenly feel completely useless. In his heightening emotional build-up he put the empty cubes in a sink – which in fact was a modified very large human Jacuzzi embedded on a bot-sized "kitchen" counter on the other side of the room; grabbed two more cubes of high-grade and retreated back towards his quarters, careful to not make a sound. He listened carefully in the conversation June and Smokescreen were having as he crept forward, not wanting to get caught. Apparently, Smokescreen was just finishing of telling a story about his hero, Optimus Prime.

"So they say; he single handedly fought and defeated over a dozen Decepticons – and emerged from the fight without so much as a scratch! Or so Alpha Trion told me; I've memorized every single one of the stories he told me. I want to be just like Optimus one day. Sometimes it feels like I had a special connection to him, you know? Not only had we the same mentor – though Trion was so much more than just that for me – and then I ended up here. I mean – what are the odds? It felt like Primus himself had guided me here. It's been nothing short of a miracle for me. He's such a great leader; his mere presence makes me feel calm and reassured. Not even Alpha Trion had that effect on me. I think it's the Matrix' doing. It feels so great to be here. Like I was finally somewhere I belonged, you know? And then there's Arcee. I knew I'd never see a bot more beautiful than her the moment I laid my optics on her. She reminded me of…"

Ratchet had already reached the corner and entered the hall, but had stopped to stare at the blabbering youngster. He shook his helm and vented out a sigh. It seemed like this week wasn't going to give him a break any time soon. He slowly turned his optics down on the cubes he was carrying and clenched his grip on them, walking directly into his room and closing the door. Once he was in, he immediately downed the third cube, winced as its taste had suddenly turned bitter, and laid down on his berth. Covering his optics he only hoped the intoxication would spread out fast. If one had looked closer they'd have noticed small streaks of optical lubricant dripping down the corners of his face.

A few hours later, Optimus Prime was standing behind Ratchet's door. They needed to talk, but why was he hesitating? He put his audio receptor by the door and listened in. He couldn't make out as much as a huff.  
"Ratchet?" he called, softly knocking the door.  
"It's Prime. Open up the door, please."

There was no answer. He knocked again, trying the handle. To his surprise though, the door wasn't locked this time. The room was dark as he stepped in.

"Ratchet? I'm coming in." The Prime announced, switching on the lights.

"Go away!" A muffled cry was heard from the left side of the room, where Optimus found the bot he wanted to see. The medic was lying on the berth, with his back turned on him. He didn't exactly seem to be in a friendly mood, so the Prime decided to approach his subject in a slightly softer manner.

"How are you feeling?"

Ratchet was quiet for a while but then seemed to find something amusing, his light chuckles slowly reaching the Prime's audio receptors.

"I guessh a better queshtion would be; do you really want to know?" was the mocking reply. Ratchet's overcharged state was beginning to clear little by little, but the slur in his voice and other mannerisms associated with the drunken state were still very present. Optimus wasn't any wiser, though. For all he knew, the older bot had drunk twice as much as he in reality had.

If the Prime was fazed by what he heard, nothing indicated so. Somehow he knew to expect something like this, despite the situation not being familiar to him.

"I understand these aren't desirable circumstances, but we really need to talk." the Prime noted, sitting down on the chair by the desk, bringing himself to the same level as the other bot.

"Hmh." The medic snorted. "Oh, sho now you want to talk, huh?"

"Please, try to co-operate. I only wish to hear your side of the story." Optimus stated, briefly wondering what the other bot had meant with the strange tone he'd used. Sadly, the only thing he got back from the medic was yet another snarky, though a bit random, comment:

"Wheeljack ish an aft."

It felt so odd seeing his friend like this. It wasn't often that Ratchet got overcharged… Now that he thought about it, he didn't remember seeing the medic like this once. Something told the Prime he should probably have waited until the morning. He had a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he should watch it; the "vibes" in the room felt very confusing.

"Please, old friend. I am only trying to help you."

"Old friend, old friend. Yeah, that'sh what I am; old like Unicron's grandmother… And alwaysh nothing but the trusty friend who never asksh anything for hisshelf!"

The Prime was quiet, sensing he was finally getting somewhere. And he wasn't disappointed as Ratchet began to pour out just how hard the past week had been on him.

Though Ratchet didn't once state the need for a break or say a word about his previously energon-starved state, Optimus Prime thought he'd best trust his friend's judgment. It was rare for the medic to take breaks to begin with, so when he'd taken an impromptu half day off so all of a sudden, there probably was a damn good reason.

And as for Wheeljack… Well, he'd just have to suck it up – for now.


	10. Chapter 10

Ratchet was grinding his jaws, trying his best to ignore what was going on around him. For the first time in a while the human charges of the other bots in the base were around, mostly due to there now not being any great missions going on. The medic almost hoped new ones would soon come to them. Not that they'd need the energon so much anymore, as their current stock was enough to sustain them for at least a year, the ground bridge included; though they'd need to make sure none fell on the Decepticon hands. Also, not that the old bot really loved fixing the battle-worn bots after each mission either. He just secretly mused it might be worth it if it kept the kids away from the base and gave him a peace of mind – well, as much of a peace of mind that having Wheeljack on the base and everything else going on allowed to. This time though it wasn't just the kids, for June was also there. Her, he didn't mind.

"You need a hand?" a voice belonging to said nurse suddenly asked, the silhouette of the woman appearing in front of his light source. Ratchet was trying to fix something that –according to him- some "glitching slag-head" had broken, and its fixing was long overdue. He didn't seem to be making much progress though, judged by the exaggerated, deeply vented sighs, the pained expressions on his face, and his overall restless demeanor.

"I'm fin…ack!" the medic suddenly yelled, accidently showing the sharp tool directly into his digit.

"Aoww, Primus fraggit!" he cursed loudly, causing a temporary silence in the room as all the attention momentarily centered on him.

"Uh, you okay, Ratchet?" Rafael asked, peeking from behind the couch where he and Jack were currenly playing video games with Miko and Bumblebee.

"I'm FINE. Go back to your game or whatever." the old bot insisted, putting the wound on his mouth and turned around. The kids looked at one another, confused, but decided to shrug it off.

June looked at the medic, and made a mental note it was probably Ratchet's pride that had been hurt more, rather than his digit. The medic's back was turned on her, but she heard him mumbling under his breath.

"Stupid, fragging thing… Now I need to fix myself, but of course it has to be the digit on my welding arm… Just great."

"I think I can help you with that." June said smiling and rushed to her bag.

Hearing that made the grumpy bot turn around, in surprise.

"And how, pray tell, you think you can accomplish that?" was his skeptical reaction.

"With this!" she smiled victoriously, holding up a small welding device.

"I had a feeling it might come in handy if we had some human-sized tools around here, so I went to the hardware store today just to pick them up, along with this."

"Now wait just a minute there; you want to fix me?" the autobot medic asked, clearly not knowing what to think about this sudden development.

"Why not? Unless you want Wheeljack to…"

"I think I've had enough of Wheeljack's antics for now." Ratchet cut her off, grateful said bot wasn't on base at the moment.

He seemed to pause, to weight his options and contemplate on the idea.

"And you reckon you can do it?" he asked, still sounding slightly skeptical.

"Why not? I've watched you do it; can't be that hard. Just guide me and I'll be good." she replied in a reassuring tone. Ratchet had to admit she had a point.

"Well, then..." he paused, again.

"You sure you know how to use that thing?"

June looked up and gave him a 'duh' look.

"Yes I do, the guys at the store showed me. Now, shall we get on with this?" she asked impatiently.

"Feh, fine. Just come over here and let's get started." he gave in, landing his servo on the desk while June carried the device next to him, putting on the safety mask that came with the device.

Ratchet pushed the sides of the tear together with his other servo's digits, while June turned the welder on. He slowly guided her work; but being a fast learner, she seemed to know what she was doing already. It didn't take long before it was done.

"How did it go?" June asked, taking off her mask. Ratchet was examining what was done, and seemed to like what he was seeing.

"Surprisingly… well. I could have hardly done it better myself. You sure you've never done this before?" he asked, astonishment clear in his voice.

"I just happen to have a good teacher." she shrugged off his compliment, on her way to repacking the welder.

"June… uh… Thank you. I… appreciate it." the medic hesitantly stated, turning his back on her again.

June stopped, and couldn't help but stare at him. Had he really just…

She didn't have time to finish that thought however, when the console suddenly began beeping. Someone was calling in.

Ratchet opened the connection.

"Wheeljack to Ratchet, come in!" was heard, when the picture of said engineer appeared on the screens.

"This is Ratchet, what is it?" the medic asked in his usual no-nonsense tone.

"I think I'm in need of an assist. It seems the Jackhammer's navigation system and several other things that made her good for travelling in space were damaged in the crash. Aside – of course – the existing problem with her energon level indicating system. Sure, I could try fixing them myself but that would require severe disassembling on my part to reach where the problem lies, and that would take a lot of extra time." Wheeljack explained.

"So, what are you proposing?"

"The space in there is confined for a bot but a human could easily fit in and fix what's needed. I was thinking maybe June could come and help me around?" the engineer asked, in his usual laid-back tone.

"No." was the medic's stern reply.

"Wait, Ratchet, it's not a problem, I can…" the nurse tried, but was silenced by the orange-and-white bot.

"She is needed here at the base. But I bet one of the kids could do it."

That made the teenagers perk up.

"Oh, yeah… Sure, why not. How about it… Jack, was it? Great name you got there, by the way." the engineer chuckled.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked, sounding only slightly hesitant.

"Don't worry; it's nothing you can't handle. Just follow my instructions and you'll be good." Wheeljack reassured the teenager.

"Well, alright. Mom, I think I'm going to have to borrow those tools…" Jack said, and June handed him the package.

"Just be careful, alright?" she said, and her son nodded with a smile.

Ratchet opened the ground bridge which lead right into the lair the ship was currently residing, and June watched as her son disappeared in the vortex.

"Aww, what are we supposed to do now? We can't play this game with just the three of us!" Miko complained, and Raf nodded at what she said; Bumblebee whirring an agreement.

"I don't care, just stay out of my way." Ratchet stated firmly, turning around.

Doing so, he suddenly noticed a certain bot, trying to sneak in to the silo's entrance.

"Hey, just a minute there, young bot! You aren't clear to leave the base yet!" the medic yelled, and the doorwings slumped down on poor Smokescreen's back in disappointment.

"Come on, I've been confined to base for days! I need to stretch my joints a little." the race car pleaded, his nervousness only accelerating as he realized Arcee was staring at him.

June realized this was Smokescreen's chance, and suddenly raised her voice:

"He could take the kids home!"

"WHAT!?" Both Miko and Raf yelled the same time, and Bumblebee whirred in protest.

"I could? …Eh, I mean… I could. And I will." Smokescreen said as firmly as he managed.

"Think about it, Ratchet. You could kill two flies with one shot." she continued, and was pleased when Ratchet began contemplating the idea.

"You know what, fine. At least I can finally concentrate again."

Smokescreen mouthed a silent 'thank you' to June, while he transformed, usurping the kids in and drove away.

Arcee rolled her optics at the scene which to her mind had been for nothing but showing off.

Bulkhead saw this and began chuckling.

"You gotta admit, Arcee, he's trying."

"I'm not having this conversation." she calmly noted, and took off towards her quarters.

Ratchet just glared after her when she left while intending to walk back in the med bay, when he suddenly crashed right into Optimus Prime.

"Awk, Optimus! Watch where you're going!" the medic yelped, after crashing down right on his aft.

Optimus just stared at his friend with a concerned look on his face.

"Are you alright?" he asked, offering his servo and lifted the older bot back up.

"Fiiine, just fine. Nothing I can't handle." he insisted and began dusting himself off.

"If only I was given a break for once in my life, at least then I would be." he quietly added, walking in the med bay.

June looked after him and sighed.

"He's been awfully tense lately, hasn't he?" she noted.

"Who, Ratchet? Pssh, that's just how he is. I don't remember seeing him once not being tense." Bulkhead said, his servo slicing the air to emphasize his point.

"While you have a point, Bulkhead, so does Mrs. Darby. It is unusual, even for our medic." Optimus stated.

"Even so, I really do not know what to make of it." he continued, staring towards the med bay with the others.

Inside, Ratchet decided he wasn't on the mood to trying to fix anything for the rest of the evening. He was feeling a little hungry, and since Wheeljack's invention had finished refining yet another batch, he decided to try some. He set the newly refined cubes with the others, which was a rather impressive pile. In the last couple of days the device had been running, it had doubled their former energon reserves though there was still plenty left to refine.

He took one cube and raised it on his lips. He began swallowing the liquid, when suddenly he realized its taste was all wrong. His optics widened as he realized what the cube withheld. It was high-grade. How the frag had the regular grade turned into high-grade? He quickly took a taste sample from several other cubes from this batch and the previous ones that Wheeljack's device had refined only to get the same result: it was all high-grade. Ratchet rushed to the device to check its settings were right; and indeed – according to them, the energon should have been regular grade.

It took only a split second for Ratchet to finally realize what was going on. The engineer's device was malfunctioning. He should have known.

"WHEELJACK!"


	11. Chapter 11

"It's high-grade!" Ratchet yelled, and threw a (sealed up) cube directly at Optimus who'd run in right when he heard the medic shout out loud the engineer's designation.

The Prime caught it, barely, and inspected it curiously, a serious frown appearing on his faceplate.

"It's ALL high-grade!" he repeated, lifting his arms up in defeat.

"I knew it was a bad decision to let him stay here. Now, look what that son of a GLITCH…" Ratchet spat out the last word. …"has caused! A mountain of nothing but high-grade!"

He paused and vented a little.

"It's not very useful for anything except getting your energy levels back up rapidly. Bumblebee and Smokescreen are too young to use it for anything else! Oh, guess what; the ground-bridge can't use it at all. And look!"

The Prime watched as Ratchet pointed to a few other cubes lying on the other side of the room.

"Those came from my refineries. They – at the moment – are the only cubes of regular grade we have left, aside the leftovers in the storage!" the medic continued ranting, his voice beginning to waver.

"I can't handle this…" His voice finally broke out and he sat on the floor and covered his optics, making him look like he was about to weep.

The Prime's look softened, as he slowly approached his long-time friend.

"Ratchet…" was all he said, sounding a little unsure. However, it was as if something from deep within was telling him what to do.

The medic tensed a little when he felt Optimus kneeling down next to him and gently wrapping his servos around him.

"It is going to be alright." the Prime reassured, not being really sure what made him do this. But it felt right.

"Wheeljack can fix the device and I'm sure we can find a use for the… excess amount." he stated slowly, deciding against to mention the name of the substance that had caused his medic so much distress.

Ratchet didn't say anything. It was taking all his willpower to not break down completely. Deep down he wondered if the Prime had any idea what he was doing to him.

Suddenly they both perked up when they heard someone clearing their throat. It was June.

Oh, wasn't this just perfect.

Optimus stood up immediately and Ratchet swiftly wiped his optics as he also stepped up. Without saying a word he grabbed a few high-grade cubes with him… and exited in his quarters, this time making sure the door was locked.

June just stood there wide-eyed looking at Optimus. Now what the heck had that been all about?

"Ratchet… has been pretty stressed out, recently." was the only explanation Optimus provided.

June just kept staring at him and then towards the hallway the medic had just bolted into, and then back at the Prime.

Optimus then chose to also exit the med-bay, leaving the bewildered nurse in.

June simply shook her head in disbelief. She had a sneaking suspicion she might have an idea just what the reason for Ratchet's current situation was…

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooo

On the following day, Wheeljack could not stop laughing when he heard what had happened.

"It is NOT funny!" Ratchet complained, clearly hung-over from the previous night.

"I can't believe it! Ohh, boy. Guess my invention really lived up to its name." the engineer chuckled, referring to its playful designation, the 'High-Grade Might Aid'; clearing lubricant from the corner of his optic.

"I swear I'd murder you on the spot if my helm-ache allowed me to do so much as stand up without making me go all woozy." the medic barked.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever you say." Wheeljack waved at him, not taking his threats one bit seriously.

He went to the machine and inspected it for a while, opening up its back-panel.

"A-ha!" he suddenly exclaimed, as he held it up and pointed to the bundle of wires within.

"One teeny loose wire. Sure didn't think it could cause so much trouble. I guess I should consider installing a back-up system, don't you think?" he teased the irritated medic, re-attaching the wire.

"There! Good as new!" he proclaimed, deciding to test it out right away. Loading it up, he made sure the settings were correct and turned it on.

"Whatever. I'm not going anywhere near that thing ever again." Ratchet swore, his helmache making him a bit slow to react.

That only made the wrecker snort in amusement.

"Sure didn't stop you from drinking all that high-grade last night. Though judged by how up-tight you've been recently, it probably did you good." he chuckled, coming in on closer and giving him a sultry look, suddenly taking a deep vent.  
"Though, I'm sure I could think of a few… other much needed activities that would do you good. You smell nice." he sweet-talked in a mocking tone.

Ratchet's optics widened to the size of dinner plates; his expression fuming. He did not just say that.

It took all of the medic's willpower to not flat out explode; when suddenly:

"Wheeljack." It was Optimus Prime.

"I think there was somewhere you needed to go."

Wheeljack only shrugged, rolling his optics and got moving.

"You guys have no sense of humor, you know that?"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooo

June had been watching the scene, her mouth open wide. Just when she thought things couldn't get any weirder…

Since Ratchet had gone drinking again the previous evening, Arcee had taken June home once Jack had returned from the Jackhammer. Today happened to be her day off, and as she didn't have any plans, the nurse had asked the female bot to bring her back at the base once she'd taken Jack to school.

She couldn't help but feel a bit worried for the old medic, and she kind of liked spending time with the bots, so the nurse didn't mind spending her day off concealed out of bright daylight.

Now, though, she was beginning to have doubts.

Wheeljack helped himself as he opened the ground bridge and walked in, the Prime following him up to close it down.

Almost immediately after the vortex disappeared, Bumblebee walked into the hangar. He whirred something to the Prime, who simply nodded and then turned to Ratchet.

"It's time for our scheduled patrol. Will you be alright?"

The medic rolled his optics.

"Yes, carrier; just peachy. Now, get going. I got better things to do than waver in here chatting." was the snarky reply of the cranky old bot, as he ushered the two mechs onwards.

With them finally gone, Ratchet left out a deeply vented sigh, and closed his optics. Finally, some peace and quiet and the base just for himself… Oh, right.

"Might want to close your mouth, unless you want a bird making a nest in there."

That caused the nurse finally come out of her stupor. She shook her head in disbelief.

"Sorry. I guess I wasn't quite ready to witness… that."

"Please. We are an alien species to you. There are many things about our kind you probably wouldn't understand."

"So, same-sex relationships… are a common social norm for you?" she asked, hoping she had gotten that right.

"Well, if you really must know, yes. And not just social; it's crucial for the survival of our species." Ratchet explained.

June didn't say anything, only listened. Ratchet sighed.

"I guess your confusion is understandable. Among humans, relationships between the members of the same gender are not very common since that's not how your species works. Ours, however, is a completely different story."

"Which means…?" the nurse asked, still not quite following.

"You ever stopped to consider why the only female Cybertronians on this planet are Arcee and Airachnid? The male to female ratio on Cybertron even during the golden age was somewhere around ten to one; now, even less. Not very efficient on the biological viewpoint, really. " the medic continued his lecture.

June's eyes widened at that.  
"So, you're saying that…?"

"Well, let's just say that our kind is a little more versatile in the ways of life."

"Oh… OH." It took a split second for the nurse to finally get what Ratchet was aiming at.

The look on her face must have been quite shocked since the old bot only shook his helm, and returned to work on his console.


	12. Chapter 12

Bulkhead drove along the dusty desert road. He'd just picked up Miko and Raf from school since Bumblebee had gone on patrol with Optimus and wasn't available.

Ratchet swore he heard them coming from "miles away", by the loud volume of the music the large green bot liked to listen with Miko. And right on cue, the Wrecker drove in and released the kids before transforming and began playing with them.

When he saw June was at the base though, Bulkhead suddenly excused himself for a while, only to return back in less than two minutes. Nobody noticed it though, least of all Ratchet who was again busy on being annoyed at everything around him.

Of course it all had to be too good to not end so soon. Aside the slight incident with Wheeljack that morning, the rest of the day so far had been bearable, after his helm-ache had faded. June's presence and her help in his duties (fixing things at that moment) had a calming effect on him; especially that now he actually got something done.

Now that the menace that was Miko was on base though… He seriously doubted staying on active duty was going to be of any use and if he just should retire for the night. Though, then again… it wasn't even evening yet, and high-grade didn't sound nearly as appealing as it had before. Though, now that there was the whole mountain of it that's all he'd be consuming, until more regular grade was refined. Briefly, he wondered why the energy-rich liquid hadn't smoothed his mood to the extent it should have by then. Admittedly, though; he'd been in an energon-starved state for a good while; a length that far surpassed any healthy amounts... In fact, it was a miracle he was still functioning as well as he was.

June was quiet as she was contemplating on something. She'd forgotten to ask about it before, and decided to do it now, before she'd forget about it again. She made sure none of the kids were on a hearing distance first though.

"I was quite amazed, by the way. Before; when you didn't tear Wheeljack limb from limb after what he said."

The comment only received a snort from the grumpy medic.

"Honestly; not that I didn't feel like doing so. If Prime hadn't intervened, I might have done something."

"Might have?" the nurse asked, arching a brow.

"Bots like Wheeljack; they're all talk. It's not like myself pummeling him down would change the fact that he is an insufferable slagger."

"Oh. Well, that's sporting of you." the woman smirked. The old bot only rolled his optics at that.

Almost immediately she said it though, the proximity alarm went off. Ratchet could hardly believe his luck and vented out an exaggerated sigh.

"Speaking of insufferable slaggers…"

The elevator's door soon opened, and revealed a scene nobody in the base had seen before; and quite frankly, didn't know what to think about.

It was Fowler, dressed up in the finest suit he could find, hair brushed fancily, hiding a bouquet of flowers behind his back. His teeth sparkled white when he smiled as he saw June staring at him on the platform, and he smelled heavily of cologne.

Almost everyone in the room stared at him; Miko, Bulkhead, Smokescreen, even Ratchet. Only Raf was too busy studying the screen of his laptop to notice.

"Oh, Mrs. Darby. What a… pleasant surprise." he said in a flattering tone, trying to sound as dignified and confident as he could master.  
June's eyes widened as she realized what was going on. Oh, no he didn't…

"What… are you doing?" she managed to ask from her astonished embarrassment.

"Oh, I was just… You know. Just coming to check if everything was alright in here. And I see they're just… perfect." he uttered in a flirting tone, coming in on closer to June, taking her hand and placing a soft kiss atop of it. Clearly this guy has seen too many James Bond movies.

"Dude!" Miko whispered eagerly, shaking Raf's shoulder vigorously.

"You're missing the show! Fowler's putting the moves on Jack's mom!"

"He's… What!?" the nerd perked up, and climbed up on the sofa to watch alongside the Japanese girl.

"Fowler… I…" June was too astonished to utter a coherent sentence, and this was just exactly what the agent had been counting on.

He revealed the bouquet he was hiding and the nurse couldn't help lifting her hand on her mouth.

"Found these on my way in. Couldn't imagine anyone more suitable to give them for." he said, offering them for the surprised woman.

June couldn't believe what was happening. She took the flowers, hesitantly, and couldn't help bringing them up to her nose and taking a deep intake. If there was one thing she had a soft spot for, it was flowers.

"They're… beautiful." she slipped, and cursed in her mind when she realized she'd said it out loud, as it only encouraged the overconfident agent.

"That may be true, but their beauty pale in comparison to yours."

'Golly!' June thought. This guy must have practiced these lines for hours!

Smokescreen was taking notes on each passing second as he intently studied the human male's attempts on courting the female. So far it all made sense: look your best, be confident, be charming, flatter her and bring her a present. He could do that. But why was he getting a feeling the human wasn't being very successful?

"Fowler…" June began, but was cut off by said agent.

"Please, just Bill." the man smiled, and took her hand in his.

"June… if I may call you that? I was thinking… If you would give me the honor of taking you out for dinner sometime?"

If Ratchet had any less decency, he would have snorted out loud when he heard that. The human's intentions had been blatantly obvious the second he'd walked out of the elevator. Personally, he was amazed that the nurse hadn't turned him down yet.

He himself had mixed feelings about the situation. On the other hand he was amused by the agent's endeavors to conquest the woman's heart; but on the other hand he had a nagging urge to crush the obtrusive human under his pede. Maybe if Fowler came down the ladder, he could turn around and pretend to not having noticed and say it was an accident…

"Bill…" June began. "I'm flattered, I really am… But I am not sure if I'm ready for a new relationship just yet. I'll think about it, ok?" she said, trying to break it to him as gently as she could.

It wasn't much use though, as she could tell the man's spirits had been crushed the second she said that.

"Awh, dammit! I was so certain it would've worked. It was too much, wasn't it? Darn it, I knew it was too much! God, I'm so stupid!" the agent fretted, his fist slicing the air towards the ground in disappointment.

"Bill, listen." June said, catching the lamenting agent's attention.

"It's not you, alright? Sure, maybe your show was a little too obvious, but it could have been George Clooney and I probably would have said the same thing. But I promise I'll think about it."

The agent sighed.

"I get it, okay? It's just that from my experience, every time women say they'll think about it, they could have as well said no." he walked towards the elevator his shoulders slumped with a look on his face that broke June's heart. But just before the doors closed, the nurse called after him:

"Thank you for the flowers. I really liked them. And I really mean it; I will think about it."

The agent just smiled forcibly as he doors slid shut and he was gone.

Without saying a word, Ratchet suddenly exited in the medbay. He took yet another cube of high-grade and downed it within seconds. Once the cube was empty he threw it directly on the wall. It didn't break though; only fell in the sink with the others but not without leaving a loud bang. Something seemed to have gotten him all worked up all of a sudden. June could only guess what it might be this time.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo o

It wasn't long after that when the console alarmed. It was Optimus. He and Bumblebee were ready to come in from the patrol, and since Ratchet wasn't there, June worked the ground bridge to let them in. To her surprise, they were in bipedal mode instead the vehicular.

"Bumblebee got a flat tire." The Prime explained.

The scout let out a cocktail of whirls and twitters when he noticed Rafael.

"Great to see you too!" the kid greeted back. "Want to play a game?"

Bumblebee whirred and nodded vigorously at what the boy said, Optimus walking next to him.

"Maybe you should get your tire changed first. You can play after that."

The yellow sports car nodded and whirred in agreement, walking in the medbay. There he saw Ratchet, who seemed to be… sulking?

"What is it?" The medic asked, not sounding to be on a very good mood.

The scout explained the situation, but the reaction he got from Ratchet wasn't what he'd expected.

"Of course… Do whatever you will and when you get scrapped, no worries because Ratchet is there to fix you! Hey, Ratchet, fix this! Hey, Ratchet, fix that! Fix my problem, give me energon, come up with a solution to this and that! That's all I am to you all? Well guess what! From now on you can all fix yourselves by yourselves! I'm on strike!"

Optimus heard everything and so did June. He really didn't know what was going on with their medic; the vibes he got felt very confusing yet again.

Poor Bumblebee was all baffled by what he heard. His huge optics became even larger and he felt lubricant gathering in their corners. His shoulders and doorwings slumped; making him look like a puppy who'd just been beaten up for having an accident. He slowly turned around and began leaving the med-bay when Ratchet suddenly came after him, dragged him in from his arm, sat him down without saying a word, took his flat tire out and replaced it and pushed him out the door, closing and locking it afterwards.

Everyone just looked at the door with a baffled look on their face, and Optimus decided it would probably be a good idea to have another talk with the medic.

June was in deep thought. She couldn't help but draw certain connections with the medic's behavior and the situations that had launched them. She didn't have time to finish her thought though, when Ratchet suddenly unlocked the medbay door and came out with a load of high-grade and retreated back in his quarters. Again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was a tiny bit longer than the ones before. I hope you like! ^^


	13. Chapter 13

"Oh, come on!" Bulkhead protested. He was currently on the "phone" with Agent Fowler, and did not like what he was hearing.

"But, you promised!" he pleaded, letting out a frustrated huff.

"No dice. The deal was; I get a date with June and you get tickets to a monster truck rally for Miko's birthday. Look, I appreciate you called me when she was on the base; but unless I get that date, no tickets for you." was the Agent's stern reply.

"Alright, fine." the Wrecker surrendered. "I'll do my best, but June is here only so often. Those tickets better be here soon then, I'm running out of time!"

"Then I suggest you get to work, soldier!" there was a click and the line went dead.

Bulkhead sighed and turned around. He let out a surprised yelp though when he saw Smokescreen right in front of him.

"Awk! S-Smokie, hi… What's up?" he stuttered, hoping the sports car hadn't heard anything crucial.

"Were you… talking to Fowler? About June?" he asked, going straight to the point.

The poor Wrecker's shoulders slumped, knowing he'd been caught.

"Yeah, but don't tell anyone, okay? No-one else was supposed to know." he stated, feeling awkward.

"So, that's how he knew she was here; and arrived so conveniently, all dressed up and everything. He had his own wingman here at the base. Handy." the youngster smirked, and Bulkhead prayed to Primus the kid would leave it at that.

"Right. I need to get going now, so I'll see you later…" the large, green bot tried, but was halted within a few steps.

"Not so fast there, Bulk." the younger bot called after him, realizing his chance.

"I want in on this. After all, you wouldn't want me to spill, would you?" the young bot said, chuckling.

"Oh, great…" Bulkhead rolled his optics and vented out a sigh.

"Alright, how much?"

"Oh, no! I'm not going to blackmail you!" Smokescreen denied when he understood what the other bot meant. "Well, at least, not like that. I just want you to do me a favor, okay?" he said, a hopeful gleam appearing on his optics.

"Alright, I'm all audios." the Wrecker stated, rolling his optics.

"Could you… please, try to convince Arcee I'm not that bad? Like, just a little bit here and there? She listens to you. That's all I ask."

Bulkhead perked up a little. That actually wasn't a bad idea.

"Uh, sure… Why not. I can do that."

The sports car was elated when he heard that.

"Awesome! Thank you, Bulk! I'll see you around!" he exclaimed, and ran across the hall making joyous gestures and voices.

Bulkhead sighed. Now he just needed to find June.

"Ep ep ep, young mech! No running in the base!" was the distant sound of Ratchet who was scolding the young bot. So it would seem he did finally return from getting June… Wait, this was perfect!

Bulkhead crept on in the hallway and peeked into the hangar. Ratchet had just retreated into the medical bay and June was alone. He probably wouldn't get a better chance than this. The Wrecker only hoped his plan would work.

"Hey, June." Bulkhead greeted, walking in the hangar.

"Oh, hello, Bulkhead. I didn't see you there." the nurse replied, smiling.

"How's it going?" she continued.

"Oh, well… You know. The usual. Miko is quite a handful, but I couldn't imagine not having her around. She's a great kid."

"I'm sure she is. You know, it always struck me as odd – and don't get me wrong; but how a big bot like you ever ended up having an overly-energetic and quirky girl like her as their charge?"

"Well, it kind of just happened. Miko liked me the second she laid her eyes on me, and I guess she kind of grew on me. And I love her; love her like she was my own."

June just smiled, but became curious when she saw the uneasy feeling on the large mech's faceplates.

"I guess it does good for a mech like me. You know, for once in your life to experience what fatherhood might be like."

June was quiet, curious to hear what the Wrecker had on his spark.

"War doesn't leave you much time to find that someone special to have a family with – and war and the military tend to make you into something you're not, to even lessen the chances. I may be clumsy and rough on the edges but deep down, I'm just the same as any other bot. Not many of us were privileged to find that kind of love. In a way – I sympathize with Fowler, you know? I guess it's similar for people like him who barely have any other life outside their often very lonesome job." Bulkhead continued, peeking at the woman's reactions from underneath his brows.

June seemed to be in a deep thought all of a sudden, judged by the look on her face. The Wrecker chuckled in his mind, happy his plan has succeeded.

"Bulkhead… thank you. That was… very eye-opening for me." the nurse commented and left in the medical bay, seemingly a lot on her mind.

Once she was gone, the Wrecker finally left out the air he'd unknowingly been holding in his vents.

"That was the biggest pile of slag I've heard in a long while."

Bulkhead didn't need to turn around to know who it was. Wheeljack soon appeared from behind and sat down next to him.

The green bot only snorted.

"Aw, well… You know. Sometimes it's okay to bend the truth a little to make people see what's right before their eyes. I wouldn't have done it if I didn't have her best interest in mind."

"Oh, and the best interest of someone else, I'm sure. Tell me, how much is he paying you?" the engineer smirked, knowing his friend too well.

Bulkhead just smiled, awkwardly. "He's not paying, I'm not that low! He's just… helping me to get something I wanted to give Miko for her birthday."

The older bot just laughed.

"Well, at least you didn't entirely lie when you said that. You do love her like she was your own."

"I do. It makes my life a lot easier to bear." the bigger bot commented, staring at the floor.

There was a lingering silence for a while.

"You think they're still out there, somewhere?" the engineer suddenly asked.

"Oh yeah, I'm certain. And I know they're safe."

"Well, they're not here."

"Exactly."

The two bots were still quiet for a while, until Bulkhead decided to continue.

"I can feel it in my spark, you know? We may be too far apart to communicate, but I can still feel her; right here." the green bot patted his chassis.

"You miss them." it was a statement, rather than a question. Bulkhead nodded.

"Every day. But it's for the best."

"If you say so." the engineer said, absent mindedly, until he suddenly began to laugh a little.

"What?" Bulkhead asked, amused by his friend's antics.

"I was just thinking how Lancer would have reacted, had she witnessed what you just told the human."

Bulkhead shook his helm.

"Don't remind me. I'd be recharging in the robodog-house for a vorn!"

Wheeljack couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, she's one feisty femme."

"That's why I love her." Bulkhead smiled.

"The twins should be having their third frames soon." he suddenly added.

"They're that old already? Time sure flies." the engineer said, astonishment clear in his tone.

"You tell me about it." the bigger bot added, venting out a sigh.

"What were their names again? Skids, and…"

"Mudflap. Yeah." Bulkhead confirmed.

"Yeah, I thought so."

They were silent again for a while.

"You haven't told Miko about them, have you?" the engineer asked, casually.

"No. Though I might, when the time is right. We could relate to one another. She is, after all, far from her home and loved ones."

"She doesn't seem to mind, though." the engineer chuckled.

"No, she doesn't." Bulkhead smiled.

A loud crash was suddenly heard from the med bay and June came out running. Ratchet was still in, cursing loudly.

"Now, what?" Bulkhead asked, not sounding very thrilled.

"The energon pile fell down, by the sound of it." Wheeljack said, suddenly beginning to snicker.

"Ratchet's sure been on a bad mood lately." he continued.

"Yeah. Poor mech doesn't seem to catch a break." the green bot agreed, looking at June who kept staring in the med bay but was now in a hearing distance.

"Yeah, poor slagger. He's been even more up-tight than Lancer when she was in heat." Wheeljack noted innocently, and began laughing when he saw the horrified look on Bulkhead's face.

"What? It's the truth!"

"Keep it down, or else she'll hear you." the bigger mech hissed, not looking very amused.

"Oh, I get it. No worries." the engineer smiled, and crouched closer to his friend.

"You know what you could do? Help me get on the Doc's "good side" – if you know what I mean. Otherwise I might accidently spill something." Wheeljack whispered.

"Oh, you're out of luck there, bud." Bulkhead said, and began to laugh, knowing his friend wasn't being serious. He playfully showed the other Wrecker in the chest plates, who quickly returned the gesture. It wasn't long until the duo was having a full-blown friendly wrestling match in the hangar – much for the amusement of the others who came to see what was going on – and for the distain of one already very irritated medic.


	14. Chapter 14

"OUT!" Ratchet yelled, startling everyone within a hearing distance. Despite outbursts like this had been common for their resident medic as of late, it didn't stop anyone from being curious of what the issue was this time. Raf and Bumblebee looked back from their game console, while Arcee just walked in the room.

A loud crash was heard, and something that she could have sworn sounded just like shattered glass.

"OUT of MY med bay, NOW!"

Right on cue, an enraged Ratchet appeared in the room, dangling a wriggling Miko in his digits, and then suddenly threw her across the room. Thank goodness his aim was as good as ever and Bulkhead was alert enough to see what was going on, catching her carefully enough to not hurt her fragile body.

"And STAY OUT!" a loud thud of a door slammed shut was heard, leaving an awkward silence lingering in the room.

"Not again." Bulkhead sighed. "Alright, what did you do?"

The teenaged girl just huffed and waved her arms. "Nothing! I swear! You know how he's been lately, snaps for no reason! I say I'm innocent!"

Bulkhead couldn't help a small amused chuckle from escaping his vocalizer, waiting for the girl to end her ranting. Then, he slowly repeated:

"Miko. What did you do?"

"Nothing, like I said! Sheesh! I swear I get no credit around here."

"Miko…"

"Fine!" She yelled. "I was just… you know. Snooping around."

"Snooping around?" Arcee asked, walking towards the duo.

"Why were you 'snooping around' there anyway?" she continued.

"Eh, y'know. Always wanted to know what he keeps in all of those boxes and drawers. Never know when you're gonna hit the jackpot! It wasn't my fault that thing fell on the floor and broke!"

Bulkhead and Arcee glanced at each another briefly from underneath their brows, rolling their optics afterwards. 'Figures', the green wrecker thought and shook his head.

"I-I mean… ehhehheh…" Miko laughed, nervously, clearly indicating she didn't mean to say the last part aloud.

"Miko…" Bulkhead began, but was cut off.

"Alright, fine! I was looking for something cool to use in a science project. Can't blame me for not trying to be creative, at least!" She spat out dramatically, quickly sitting down on her guardian's palm, pouting with her arms crossed while closing away the world around her.

"Nobody ever claimed so. You know that, Miko." Bulkhead tried consoling his Japanese charge, who may or may not have heard a word he said.

"What was it that you broke, anyway?" Arcee asked, looking towards the other end of the room where Ratchet's furious demeanor had only moments ago occurred.

As the meaning of what was said slowly sunk in to the girl who was now busy pouting, it caused her to stand up defensively all of a sudden.

"But it wasn't me, I already told you! I was just minding my own business, looking through the things lying on the table; while Ratchet fussed around, as usual. Then he suddenly just bumped into the table I was on, it shook a little and this glass tube that had some liquid in it fell on the floor and shattered. I wasn't even near that thing! Then he spotted me and got really mad as usual, and you know the rest."

"Well, he has been acting strange recently." Bulkhead stated the obvious.

"Yeah. Remember what happened last week, Bee?" When you broke your tire and went to see Ratchet to have it fixed?" Raf said, talking to Bumblebee.

The yellow bot whirred animatedly and waved his arms around a little, nodding repeatedly.

"Yeah, I remember that! Bee came to me the day after to have the bolts screwed in tighter. It was so weird; Ratchet has never done a halfhearted job like that before." Bulkhead said, thinking.

"Sure is strange…" Raf said, furrowing his brows, and then coming around as he saw Smokescreen peeking through the entrance behind Bulkhead.

"Uh, Smokescreen, what are you doing?"

"Eh… Hi." The white and blue sports car said, walking in, glancing around nervously.

"Are we talking about the Doc bot? He's not around, is he?"

"Locked himself in the med bay. Why? Did you also happen to be around when he broke something and blamed it on you?" Miko asked, curious.

"What? No, I don't think so, at least."

"What's the problem, then?" Bulkhead asked, motioning the younger bot to join them.

"Eh… I don't want to sound paranoid, or anything; but I think he's keeping an optic on me. It gets on my nerves."

"Well, you do seem to be in need of some looking after at times." Arcee said, sarcastically.

Smokescreen began defending himself, feeling awkward. "No, you don't understand. He keeps asking if I had my daily dose of energon yet, is always checking where I'm going, and sometimes he walks in to my quarters at night just to see if I'm recharging yet. Yeah. I get that you guys consider me a rookie but I am not a youngling anymore!"

"Could have fooled me." Arcee said, making everyone around them snicker in amusement.

Smokescreen just vented out a sigh, as his doorwings slumping in embarrassment.

It was that moment when the console beeped, and Arcee went to open a ground bridge. Soon enough, in walked Wheeljack with the fembot's charge, Jack.

"Don't worry; I'm sure he gets over it in time. You should have seen him when Bee first arrived in our ranks." Bulkhead said, slamming the smaller bot on his back reassuringly.

"Ratchet just is like that. He's a medical bot; it's his job to care."

"May be, but you can't claim something isn't bothering him." Smokescreen said, narrowing his optics.

"We talking about the Hatchet?" Wheeljack asked, a smirk appearing on his face.

"Yeah." Bulkhead answered. "And his recent behavior."

The engineer snorted at that.  
"Yeah, figures. Wonder how long it'll take… He's so wound-up it's only gonna be a matter of time before he breaks apart."

"Wonder what's bothering him." Smokescreen said, deep in thought, but lightening up suddenly.

"Hey, Jack!" he called for the teenager.

"Your mom's become pretty close with him. Does she know anything?"

"I…'m not sure; we haven't really had time to… Discuss about him." the young man answered.

"I mean, with me being either at school or work, or here… and her busy schedule and new-found admirer…"

"Admirer?" Arcee asked, not connecting the dots.

"Oh, you mean Fowler?" Bulkhead asked, trying to not sound too enthusiastic.

"Yeah." The teen confirmed. "Would you believe, she actually accepted to go out with him. That's where they're now." Jack stated, with a disturbed look on his face.

It took all of Bulkhead's willpower to not start making any victory declares with everyone else in the same room. He could practically already smell the fumes. Oh, boy. Miko was going to be so surprised!

"If you ask me, the doc bot is sulking. What exactly for, I'm not too sure. But if I didn't know any better, I'd think he was jealous of June." Wheeljack noted casually, sipping from a cube of energon; but stopped soon when he noticed everyone was staring at him with astonished looks on their faces.

"What? I didn't say it made any sense, did I? I just had a feeling."

The others then looked away, some of their gazes suddenly shifting across the room in awkwardness.

"Yeah, well… I don't know if it really is our business to talk behind his back like this, even if I think you're right that there is something bothering him. But I do know it's about time we took you kids home. It's past your curfew." Arcee noted, and rolled her optics at the crushed looks on Miko's and Bee's faces.

"No fair!" she protested.

"You know, Arcee's right. Best we leave now, then. Bee, you coming?" Bulkhead asked the yellow sports car.

"See you guys around. I'm gonna go get me some high-grade." Wheeljack said, waving for the departing bots who transformed and drove away with their charges.

After making sure everyone else had left, Optimus Prime finally chose to step out of the shadows in the hallway. If you looked closely, you could see he was in deep thought.

He'd listened carefully in the conversation and was now trying to figure out what would the best course of action be. With the way Ratchet had been behaving recently; his temper aside but his sudden occasional disregard for his work and the exceptional amounts of high-grade the bot was consuming were increasingly worrying the Prime. So far he'd let it be, trying to see if things would come back to normal on their own accord; but as that didn't seem to be the case, he'd have to step in. Remembering though how it had ended last time, he decided now he'd let the confrontation wait until the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll let you guys in on a secret.. this chapter.. or actually the original version of this chapter was the very first one I wrote for this story. Even back then I knew it would end up being somewhere in the middle, so I've been waiting to finally catch up with it! Sure, the story had evolved a little since then so some minor changes needed to be made and some things added, but it's still the same chapter.  
> I understand the last two chapters have been a bit of a filler; but don't worry, a lot of things is going to happen from now on!


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think this is even needed, but... whatever:  
> There's some talk about 'feminine troubles' in this chapter, in case it bothers you. What? Don't look at me like that. XD It is essential to the plot, trust me.

June Darby left out a loud sigh after successfully finishing yet another hard day at work. Her joints ached, her hands and feet were slightly swollen and her breasts felt tight and sore to the touch. Figures these symptoms would be attacking her now. In moments like these June usually yearned for nothing more than a long, warm relaxing bath with dim lights, scented candles, exotic scrubbing agents and music from the Far East. And chocolate. Boy, would she fancy some mint truffle chocolate right now.

But there was no time for that now. She was going to visit the autobot base today.

The nurse sighed as she finished washing her face in the personnel's ladies room. She glanced at her reflection in the mirror. Seeing the dark under eyes and the slightly swollen face made her grimace briefly. One would have thought she'd gotten rid of these symptoms after her teenage years, or soon after Jack was born, but of course she wasn't that lucky.

June couldn't help but think if it was her hormones that had made her accept going out with Agent Fowler the previous weekend. Bulkhead's sob story about lonely army men had aroused a need to help the situation in the nurse, something that June usually knew better than to let it make the decisions for her. She just couldn't help it sometimes; her nurturing nature was what had called her towards the medical field after all.

Not that it had been… all bad. The Agent was actually a lot more pleasant company than she'd imagined, and they had a few things in common as well. June just doubted if she had done it for the right reasons; for something told her Bill would probably feel discouraged if he learned she'd only done it out of pity. Or was it just out of pity? Truth to be told, she wasn't sure herself. But in her current situation she wasn't going to let herself be bothered by it. She winced slightly, as she felt a cramp in her abdomen.

She stuffed her scrubs in the bag and exited the hospital. As if right on cue, June saw the ambulance that was Ratchet driving in the usual spot. She sprinted towards him and the ambulance opened its passenger's side door to let her in.

Ratchet didn't say anything as they continued driving towards the base, as they'd done so many times before. By now; June had learned what it meant: the Autobot medic had been drinking again.

June shook her head. She had to do something about this.

"Had a long night?" she asked, hoping it would ire the grumpy medic enough to make him open up.

The only thing she got in return was a displeased snort.

Well, she supposed it was better than nothing.

The drive went on peacefully as June looked out the window, admiring the scenery that suddenly seemed much prettier than it usually did. Something she saw reminded her about Fowler and how he'd asked her out. It was more amusing than anything else, but it made a wide smirk appear on her face.

Soon, as if he'd read her mind, Ratchet suddenly spoke.

"Must be nice." he said, sounding a little bitter.

"What you mean; nice?" June asked, confused.

The medic snorted.

"The attention you're getting from Fowler. Good for you."

June couldn't believe her ears. It almost sounded as if Ratchet was… jealous? But how could that be?

She was going to say something, when suddenly her abdomen began hurting immensely.

'Oh no, not this… Not now!' she thought, as she clutched her midsection, trying her best to not make it obvious something was wrong.

It wasn't much of use though. As he didn't get a reaction, Ratchet took a second glance towards the woman to see what was going on; and could soon tell by her body language that something wasn't right.

"Are you okay in there?" he asked, trying to not sound worried. Ratchet wasn't one to often pay attention to what the humans did when idle so all their mannerisms were still not entirely familiar to him. He however, already on behalf his profession, knew the face of pain. Or, the face of someone trying to refrain from showing they were in pain, in this case.

"Ratchet…" June hissed, finally letting the pain show in her expression as she thought there was no reason to keep it in.

"Unless you want blood stains all over your seat, I suggest you step on it. I need to get to the base, fast." she ordered, not bothering to explain to the medic what exactly was going on, and why to continue to the base instead of turning back to the hospital.

June hadn't worn a pad before she left her workplace, and was now cursing herself for not doing so. You'd think one would also have learned to avoid these kinds of situations with age, but not June apparently. No, she'd rather have the extra laundry; the nurse mocked herself silently, feeling the urgent need to use the bathroom.

Ratchet, perhaps wisely, didn't question her and increased his speed to the maximum.

"Do you need a ground bridge? We're almost there though." the ambulance asked, this time worry and confusion clear in his voice.

"No, I think I'll manage. Just keep driving." she replied, taking in deep breaths.

June jumped out immediately when they finally reached the base, and ran straight into the restroom, much for Ratchet's confusion – and irritation. 'That's it?' he thought. Why had she been talking about blood though?

June left out a relieved sigh as she noticed she'd arrived right on time. She quickly attached a pad, and took a couple of pain killers, specially meant for fast relief in situations such as these. Too bad 'fast' in pain killers still meant at least a half an hour. What was she going to do meanwhile?

She stepped out of the bathroom, and saw Ratchet had already gone in the med bay. Thinking she should probably explain herself, she walked in.

Ratchet was re-filling one of his refineries.

"Care to explain what that was all about? You almost gave me a spark attack." the medic complained.

The nurse sighed.

"Alright… But can you lift me up somewhere I could sit first? I'm still in pain." she groaned, sounding a lot snappier than she'd originally meant. To her surprise, the medic complied.

"Alright, start talking." the medic insisted, in a tone June recognized meant he was not only irritated, but anxious, worried and confused.

June let out another sigh as she sat down, briefly closing her eyes.

"How… much do you know about human biology?" she began. The look on Ratchet's faceplate told her all she needed to know.

"Alright, so not much, I take it?"

"Well, I… never really had the time to familiarize myself with more than the mere basics." the medic admitted, to June's surprise.

"Alright… so… let me first assure you with one thing; what's going on is completely natural and it happens to all sexually mature human females. It's called a menstrual cycle, and at the moment I'm suffering its worst side which occurs about once a month."

Had she been anyone else, explaining all the details related to her condition to a giant alien robot would probably have been very awkward. Thankfully though, both she and Ratchet were professionals in the medical field, so that was not a problem.

The pain had finally descended below tolerable levels when she was nearing the end of her lecture, and the look on Ratchet's face was worth seeing.

"So, you're saying that all this… trouble is a part of your reproductive cycle?" he asked, amazement in his voice.

"Well… yes. That… pretty much sums it up." June said, and seeing the way Ratchet had brought it up, caused something to arise in her memory from before. Something Wheeljack had said…

"Do… Cybertronians have something… similar?"

If nothing he'd heard so far hadn't had too much of an effect on the autobot medic; hearing this question definitely did, judged by how his optics became larger as he suddenly perked up from his thoughts.

"Ehm, well… We… Umm… I, uhhh…" Ratchet stuttered, and June could have sworn she saw a faint blush spreading on the medic's faceplate. How it was possible or if it was only an illusion she didn't know, and didn't bother thinking any further about.

"Because, I think I remember overhearing someone mentioning about some other bot having been in heat before… Or, that's what I thought they said." she stated, hoping this would help the medic to spill it.

And it worked. June couldn't help the amused smile as Ratchet tried to think how to phrase what he was about to say.

The medic vented out a sigh as he finally decided to begin.

"Yes… we do. Well, minus the bleeding. Thank Primus our system isn't anywhere near as impairing. But yes, we do have what you could say are reproductive cycles. It affects mostly the femmes though, but sometimes also mechs whose carrier protocols have been activated for whatever reason."

The curious look on June's face told the medic to keep talking.

"Usually it lays dormant, but certain events, such as excessive interfacing – as in mating – especially for newly bonded couples can activate it… Or if someone close to you, usually a family member, is being currently in heat or carrying can also launch it. As the name suggest, it is a time when a bot is more likely to become sparked… erm, pregnant."

The nurse was quiet for a while as she was thinking, and decided to ask something as the pieces finally clicked together in her mind.

"What… if I may ask? Are the symptoms of a bot who is currently in heat?"

"Well, what do you think? They become very… 'needy', and 'active' with their mate if you understand where I'm going with this. Their senses also become exceptionally sharp."

"What about the early symptoms? Someone who is just entering the stage?"

That caused Ratchet to frown.

"Well, let's see… As the body is saving resources for other things, some find it hard to concentrate, and are often prone to mood swings. A general feeling of uneasiness is likely present; and other such things. Why? What's your point with this?"

Hearing what he said caused the nurse to clasp her hand on her mouth so that she wouldn't start laughing out loud. Ratchet saw what she was doing though.

"What's so funny?" he asked, irritated.

"Ratchet..." the nurse managed to say.

"I think I know what's been bothering you!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dunn! Is June right? Stay tuned!


	16. Chapter 16

Ratchet couldn't stop staring at the woman in front of him. June waved her hand in front of his optics, to gain his attention. He suddenly shook his helm to clear up the stupor.

"Could you… repeat that?" he said, not believing his own audios.

"I said, I think you're as much as a victim to your hormones, as I am." she repeated, this time exaggeratingly slowly.

"You're… You're thinking that... that I am…?" Ratchet stuttered, seeming to stop for a little as the realization sunk in. What happened next though was not something the nurse had expected, as all of a sudden the autobot medic burst out laughing out loud. The scene left June full of confusion as she tried to make sense for the bot's odd reaction. Had she said something silly?

"Hahhahhah!" Ratchet laughed, clearing lubricant tears from the corner of his eyes.

"That was the best one I've heard in a long time!"

June wasn't happy she was being made fun of.

"Now, listen here! Don't tell me you don't have the symptoms! So please, before you humiliate me any longer, do share why the idea is so funny!"

"Ahhahhahh… Alright…" the medic continued chuckling, all of his previous foul mood long gone. He didn't even remember the last time he'd laughed so much!

"Krehhem!" Ratchet cleared his throat, but began laughing almost immediately again. June sighed out loud, rolling her eyes.

"Ratchet…"

"Alright, alright! Give me a minute." the medic agreed, gathering his bearings and this time managing to hold his poker face.

"First off, do you honestly think if it were a possibility that I would not have thought about it?" he began.

"Second of all, it is not. And that's that." he finished, seeming quite certain about it.

June kept looking at the medic with a firm stare.

"Why not?" she asked.

Ratchet only snorted.

"Don't tell me the females in your species continue their cycles until the very end of their lives."

Now this made June perk up. She frowned at first in confusion but soon her eyes widened as she grasped the meaning behind what was said.

"Wait… Are you saying that you're…" she began, but was cut off by the medic.

"Way past my prime in this matter, yes. I understand I probably don't look as old as I am, but I assure you… for me; those days are long gone… Forever." Ratchet stated, turning around. The nurse didn't see it, but the medic was now staring at the floor, and vented out a longing, heavy sigh as he closed his optics.

The look on June's eyes softened when she understood what Ratchet meant. He was menopausal, in the figurative sense; had probably been for quite a while. She felt stupid for not realizing this possibility; it was a known fact that Ratchet was the elder of the group, the oldest of all the Cybertronians on the planet in fact.

She couldn't help but notice something in the way he said it, though. He sounded almost… remorseful? June didn't get to think much about it though, as she soon noticed the medic downed yet another cube of high grade.

"I'm sorry for not thinking about that possibility. But that aside, should you really be drinking that much?" she asked, looking sad.

Ratchet slammed the empty cube on a desk, his back turned on the woman.

"I have to. It's the only way to fix this."

That made June's eyes widen in worry.

"No! There has to be something else! Talk to me, please! Drinking never solved anything!"

Ratchet raised a brow and took a glance towards the fussing nurse, with a confused look on his face.

"Come again?"

"Ratchet… I think you have a problem." she finally admitted.

The medic's eyes widened when he finally understood what she meant.

He turned to grab another cube and vented out a sigh.

"Nurse Darby… June. Look, I understand this may look bad from a human's point of view. But trust me, High Grade energon is much more than just what you see as our version of your alcoholic beverages which serve no other purpose but getting drunk."

That made the nurse to furrow her brows in confusion.

"I am not drinking the High Grade to get overcharged – intoxicated, even if it is often the unfortunate, unavoidable outcome. One reason is the shortage of regular grade and the incident with Wheeljack's machine which left us to have way more High Grade than regular, so someone has to make a use of it."

"Then why isn't everyone else drinking it, too?" June questioned.

"Smokescreen and Bumblebee are still too young to properly handle it, and Arcee is just too much of a light weight for it to do much good for her. And Optimus… As the Prime, he is always compelled to have a clear head."

"He is an absolutist? I see. It makes sense." June concluded.

"You didn't mention Bulkhead or Wheeljack. They drink this too, then?" she continued.

"Yes, they do." Ratchet confirmed.

"Then why haven't I seen or heard either of them having a hangover recently?" she argued.

'Scrap'. Ratchet though. This woman really was too smart for her own good.

"Well, umm… Like I said. It's the only way to fix this." he repeated, hoping the woman would leave it at that.

"Go on." she demanded, and Ratchet couldn't help venting out a sigh.

"I think… there's a glitch in my systems." he finally admitted.

"A… glitch?" June repeated, expecting the medic to explain further.

Ratchet nodded vaguely. "For… some reason my body is no longer able to process the energon the way it should. The symptoms I've been having… Are because of that. So, to ensure I'll still function properly, I must consume high grade when the need arises." he explained, conveniently leaving out that he had a hunch he knew why this was happening. He also left out the fact that his energy readings were all within the normal parameters, or above; but that was why he'd called it a glitch. A glitch situating in his self-diagnostics that failed to show the self-appointed defect somewhere in his energon processing system, and showing faulty readings.

That caused June to blink.

"You have a malabsorption?" she stated, finally understanding what was going on.

"Of sorts, I think." he said. 'It's the only explanation.' he added in his mind.

June couldn't help but have her doubts, though. Sure, what Ratchet had said made sense… except for one tiny little factor. She wasn't an expert on how these things worked of course, but according to her common sense… If he really had an energy malabsorption, would he be getting 'overcharged', as he'd called the state of intoxication?

"Ratchet?" It was Optimus Prime, peeking in from the doorway to the med bay.

"Are you busy?" he asked, stepping in.

The medic vented out a sigh.

"What do you want?"

"I wished to discuss about what's been going on as of late. I have found myself concerned over the amount of High Grade you have been consuming lately." the Prime stated, calm as ever.

Ratchet vented out dramatically.

"Oh, not you, too! I don't need a sparklingsitter, for Primus' sake! I'm a grown mech, and a qualified medic the last time I checked! I think I'm more than capable of taking care of myself!"

June couldn't help but notice how Ratchet's mood had gone foul the second the Prime entered the room. She decided to stay quiet and observe the exchange.

Optimus stepped on closer to the angry medic, feeling the turmoil in his energy field.

"Nobody has questioned your ability to take care of yourself, old friend. But, my concern is not only about your well-being." he trailed off, looking towards June.

His thoughts were slightly redirected as he vented in the air near the medic. Wheeljack had been right, Ratchet did smell nice…

The poor medic however did not like the position, the Prime's close proximity only increasing his anxiety. He needed to get out, and soon.

"Oh, so I'm negligent now, am I?" he snarled. "I've done nothing but exceptional job all these vorns and when for once in my life I decide to cut it loose a little, I get a lecture?"

"Believe me when I say this, your "cutting it loose" has been more than welcome and long overdue. But from what I've observed, I've grown increasingly suspicious if you are still able to sufficiently manage your duties because of the High Grade." Optimus stated, simultaneously looking both firm and clement.

That was the last straw for the poor medic.

"I can handle them just fine!" he yelled, grabbing an armful of said energon and beginning to storm out the med bay.

"At least I still remember what my duties are!" was spat from over his shoulder as the enraged medic continued his way towards his quarters. A loud bang was heard when the door was slammed shut.

June looked at Optimus with wide eyes.

"What was that all about?"

The Prime only sighed.

"Something I've been trying to figure out." he stated, with a sad look in his optics.

As time went on and Ratchet still hadn't exited his quarters, June decided she wouldn't have it anymore. There had to be more to this, and she was going to get to the bottom of it. With determined steps, she walked towards Ratchet's quarters, and to her surprise noticed the door wasn't locked, and even slightly ajar. She stepped in.

The first thing she noticed was a pile of datapads on the floor, seemingly having fallen down from the medic's book shelf. Ratchet himself was lying on his berth, obviously sulking – and probably overcharged.

Out of curiosity, she walked towards the datapads, as the one on top seemed to be on. With further inspection she noticed it was full of photos – from Ratchet's younger days, likely from before the war. After casually going through some, the nurse suddenly came across something she thought was her eyes playing tricks on her. It was Ratchet – and someone else she thought she recognized… In a very shocking position.

The pad was suddenly whisked away from her possession, and she let out a startled yelp.

"I think we need to talk."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dunn...! XD


	17. Chapter 17

Arcee was standing by the console in the hangar. It was her turn to watch the monitors and handle the ground bridge, something she usually didn't mind but this time the motorcycle almost wished she was doing something else… Smokescreen had just arrived. So far he hadn't said anything, but she could practically smell the awkwardness lingering in the atmosphere in the younger bot's side of the room. He was clearly nervous and kept glancing in her direction when he thought she wasn't looking.

The sports car turned his helm briefly towards the hallway, the figures of Bulkhead and Wheeljack urging him forward. They'd insisted he wouldn't get a better chance than this, so they'd dragged him in the hangar and told him to make his move. Too bad it was much easier said than done.

He was trying to get some last minute moral support from the two older bots; Bulkhead gave him a thumbs-up and an approving nod, while Wheeljack had a pervy smirk on his face and kept making suggestive gestures with his digits, winking his optic at the youngster. When he saw it though caused only the already awkward young bot to become even more flustered and blush in embarrassment. Seeing Smokescreen's reaction made the engineer laugh silently, and then mouth a 'Go get her, Tiger!' which landed the young bot back in his current standing. He looked at the femme with a firm stare, took one last glance towards his "support group" and nodded in affirmation. This was it.

Arcee probably knew something was up by now anyway, so Smokescreen decided he should go straight to the point.

"A-Arcee, eh… hi." he said. The femme didn't say anything, or showed any reaction whatsoever.

"I, uh… I wanted to talk to you. I, uhh… I need to tell you s-something." the young bot stuttered, hoping she didn't think he was making as big of a fool of himself as he was feeling at the moment. Suddenly, Arcee turned to face him, startling Smokescreen a little.

"Well?" she asked, looking at him with a neutral expression. "I'm all audios."

"A-Arcee, I…" the younger bot vented in deep, and continued. "I wanted to a-apologize for what happened that one time in the med bay w-when you were trying to fix my pede. I was under the influence yeah, b-but you didn't deserve to be treated like that. I-I've been beating myself up ever since because you're so awesome and beautiful and I feel just terrible for doing that to you."

Arcee carefully observed every move the young mech made. He seemed to really mean every word he was saying. Even if the fembot had been annoyed by him before, she felt touched by his sincerity.

"So, I-I hope you can forgive me. There, I said it." Finishing the speech, he vented out and turned around, not expecting to get a response.

"You're forgiven." was her abrupt reply, and it made Smokescreen turn back in surprise.

"R-really?" he asked, astonished. The femme nodded, with a hint of a smile.

The sports car vented out in relief and sent his immediate praises to Primus. With his newly found confidence, Smokescreen suddenly added:

"Also… If it's okay with you… Maybe we could, you know. Go out for a drive some time or some…thing?"

Arcee just chuckled, and gently pushed the excited mech away with her palm.

"You should quit while you're ahead." she said, but this time without a hint of malice in her voice.

She smirked a little in friendly amusement as Smokescreen's doorwings dropped, and he turned around in disappointment.

"I see… Well, I guess I should… go. I have an early morning patrol and… yeah." the crestfallen youngster said, slowly exiting towards his quarters.

Arcee watched him go, and felt a bang of guilt shooting through her.

"Smokescreen!" she called after him, causing the mech to turn around.

"Good night." she said, as gracefully as she could master.

"Good night." the poor young bot repeated, disappearing in the hallway while Bulkhead and Wheeljack came out of his way, looking after him with silent sympathy. It had almost worked this time.

"Poor kid." the engineer noted.

"Yeah. Ya can't win every time. It's just how it is." Bulkhead agreed, as they stepped into the hangar.

Wheeljack shrugged and suddenly remembered something.

"Hey Arcee!" he called. The femme turned around, only now noticing the two Wreckers were present.

"When do you think Jack is coming here next time? I could use his "expertise" once more."

Arcee lifted an optical ridge in curiousity.

"Sometime later this week, I'm sure. But I'd thought you'd have fixed the ship up by now. Something the matter?" she asked, turning to watch the monitors again.

"Well, you know..." he casually noted, when suddenly the med bay door opened and the usual sight of a furious Ratchet carrying a few energon cubes exited, stomping towards his quarters.

"I haven't exactly had a reason to… hurry things along." he trailed off, and Bulkhead shook his helm when he saw his friend's optics were fixed on the behind of the steaming medic passing them by. One didn't need to be a psychic to know what the engineer was thinking, as the expression he wore on his faceplates practically screamed "I'm gonna tap that".

"Anyways, I'm going to go check out the Jackhammer, so I'll see you guys later." Wheeljack noted as Arcee opened up the ground bridge and the mech walked through.

"Things are surely getting interesting around here." Arcee commented, as the vortex died down.

"Yeah." Bulkhead agreed. "He thinks Doc's just playing hard to get. He likes the challenge."

"Well, good luck with that." Arcee chuckled. "He's gonna need it."

"Yeah. Slagger's one heck of a lecher though. Won't give up easy." Bulkhead agreed smiling, as Arcee returned to the monitors.

The green Wrecker was silent for a while. He couldn't help but think of the promise he'd made for Smokescreen, and having seen him so crushed earlier made him decide he probably should take it, as the opportunity had now presented itself.

"What about Smokescreen?" he concluded it was better to not circle the subject.

"He's a good kid – and quite resourceful for his age. He really likes you, you know? Maybe you should give him a chance, he deserves as much."

Arcee slowed down and stared at the console for a while, clearly deep in thought.

"I'll think about it." was all she said, though.

Bulkhead nodded in understanding. He decided he should probably go check on the kid, and left Arcee alone in the hangar.

Ratchet downed the high grade instantly when entering his quarters, slamming the door shut. He didn't even bother to check if it was properly locked, nor did he care for the datapads that fell on the floor due to the impact of the slam.

The cubes' contents tasted foul; the usual effect when the body was telling you'd had enough and drinking any more would only cause you to get overcharged.

The medic vented out deeply, and sat on his berth. It just didn't make sense. The high grade should have helped to ease the symptoms, but so far it hadn't done that once. In each occasion, as well as now, he'd only ended up drunk – and his overall condition as far as he could tell hadn't improved at all; more like the opposite.

Ratchet hated to admit it, even if just for himself; but the medic had to face the fact he no longer knew what in the pit was going on. Even if he knew where to look for, he didn't have the equipment to diagnose himself properly in the ways that were required, and the resources needed to modify his current ones to accommodate the purpose were limited at best.

Everything just felt… wrong. It was either the supposed defect in his energon processing system was so severe even high grade wasn't enough to energize his frame in necessary levels… or…

The very thought was frightening. He could be terminally ill.

Among the strangest things though had to be his self-diagnosing system. It insisted there was nothing wrong with him, that everything was perfect; beyond perfect even. The medic could only guess what had caused it to malfunction now of all times… a much more appropriate time would have been during all those decades he didn't ingest enough energon, causing his systems to conserve wherever it could…

And then; there was what June had said. It was startling – he had to admit – how closely what he was experiencing did remind him of the pre-heat syndrome symptoms; well, even if highly exaggerated.

It was crossed out of his list though, for several reasons. He hadn't been in heat since… somewhere after the war had broken out. Several vorns ago, in any case. And while it wasn't entirely impossible for a mech of his age to still have full-blown heat cycles, they'd have to have a regular interfacing life, or be constantly surrounded by fertile, active, healthy carriers and/or several sparklings – anything that would keep their carrier protocols active. …Neither of which was the case for him.

And anything else there might be suggesting so was purely coincidental. Had to be.

He didn't even notice when his advancing drunken state had caused him to fall into a restless recharge. By the time he woke up, the first thing he's registered was that there was someone else in the room. Someone, who was currently doing something they were not supposed to.

He got up as quickly as he could and snatched away the open datapad from the hands of the meddling, fool of a woman who stuck her nose in things she had no business doing so.

She yelped in surprise and turned to look at him, looking simultaneously startled, astonished and confused.

Ratched took a glimpse at what she'd seen and closed his eyes in defeat. It could hardly have been worse. Supposing there was no other way around it, he thought he'd better tell her the truth. Well, as much of the truth as was absolutely necessary.

"I think we need to talk." he finally said, gathering up the datapads and putting them in a box which he stuffed under his berth.

"Yes, I think we should." she agreed, coming out of her shock.

"Can you please tell me WHY you have a picture of you and Optimus Prime, kissing?" she demanded.

Ratchet vented out a sigh. How was he going to explain himself out of this one? Curse this woman.

"June… Anything I'm about to say will not be repeated and shall never leave this room, do you understand?" he stated.

June studied the medic for a while, finally nodding in agreement.

"Fair enough."

The medic turned his back on the nurse, venting out a sigh.

"The picture is from the Golden Age of Cybertron, so technically that is not Optimus; he was still known as Orion Pax at the time."

June listened carefully; following the medic's every move.

"We… used to be involved." he said, not bothering to explain further.

June looked up at him, confusion clear in her expression.

"That's it? Aren't you going to say anything else? Clearly things have changed, so why aren't you…"

"Things, as you well know June, do not always turn out the way you'd think they would." Ratchet interrupted the woman, his voice full of malice.

June felt the sting, and was quickly silenced – now full of remorse.

"We went our separate ways." he stated.

"That's all you need to know."

June felt terrible for even asking, being a divorced woman she knew how painful the subject must be for the medic. She nodded in understanding, and left Ratchet alone in his quarters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One major plot device revealed! A lot more coming up later. XD
> 
> Also wanted to mention that as I'm closing in on the 20th chapter, I will no longer update on a day-to-day basis after it is posted... Of course, unless I manage to finish chapter 21 on time and shall post it right after chapter 20, but in any case after that the updating shall slow down tremendously. I'll try my best to update at least once every two weeks, or faster if possible, but I can't guarantee that. I promise to try my best though! ^^


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, don't think this is necessary, but...  
> There's some minor sexual themes in this chapter.

"There! That should do it!" Wheeljack sighed in relief, wiping coolant off his forehelm. He and Jackson Darby had been working hard on the ship all day and finally it seemed that everything was in a proper working order again; aside some minor stuff here and there that still needed to be attended to, but he could tinker around them later. The engineer waited until the boy walked out of the service "tunnel" and closed it up. It would seem the company that manufactured Jackhammer had used minicons as service bots, thus the small confined spaces around the ship only something the size of a human could properly fit in.

Wheeljack walked in the ship's controls and started the engine. He watched carefully as each system flared to life, making sure everything was as it should. So far, everything was working within the optimal range, even the subsystems. He left out a happy exclamation as the small console similar to the ones Ratchet had in the Autobot base flickered on. Its sensors, among some other things, had been the ones that had taken the worst damage in the crash. Without it, he could have as well been blindfolded when flying.

"It's working?" Jack asked, looking up to the bot who was busy pressing various buttons on the console.

"Like a charm. You did well, Jack." The engineer smiled, moving on to test yet another system.

"That's great!" the boy said, feeling good about himself. "So, we're done now?"

"Pretty much." Wheeljack answered, casting an approving gaze at the human, smirking in the end. "Could have barely done any better myself. You saved me a ton of work, kid. I appreciate it."

"Hey, no problem." the youngster smiled. "Not many can say they helped to fix an alien space ship, let alone been in one. I was more than happy to help. Besides, I had a good teacher." he continued, his awed gaze shifting around the ship's interior, landing on the controllers.

Wheeljack noticed this, and he suddenly got an idea.

"I bet not many of you have been in space, either. How about it? Would you like to go on a ride sometime? A quick spin to the Moon and back, perhaps? As a token of my appreciation."

The teenager's eyes widened at that.

"F-For real?" he asked, in awe.

The Wrecker nodded. "Of course, only after I've tested her out first. Whadda ya say?"

"That… would be pretty awesome." Jack said, clearly having a bit of a hard time to conceal his excitement.

"I've already been to Cybertron but I walked there in through the Space Bridge. So I've never actually been in space. I just need to make sure Mom's okay with it… It may take a while."

"Heh, carriers… Of course." Wheeljack shook his helm, chuckling.

"Take your time. I won't be flying too soon anyways. I have some … other unfinished business I need to attend to in the base meanwhile."

Jack stopped suddenly and seemingly tensed, as he was contemplating on something.

"Speaking of which… Do you… happen to have any idea if something happened the other day? Mom came home from the base and she was upset about something… Refused to say what it was."

"Hmmm… Can't say I do. She was with Ratchet the last time I saw her." the engineer reminisced, tapping his chin with his forefinger.

"You think Ratchet had anything to do with it?" Jack asked.

"Possible. He isn't exactly known for his tact, if you know what I mean… Especially in his current… situation." Wheeljack stated mysteriously, mirth spreading on his face.

"Well, the way he's been lately… Any idea what's up with him?" the boy asked casually.

"Heh… I don't think you want to hear what I think." the engineer snickered, amused by the confused look on the boy's face.

"But I tell you this, he won't be that way for long, once I've…"

He didn't get to finish his sentence though, as suddenly the console began to beep right after he switched another application on.

"Huh? What's this?" he asked, inspecting the screen further.

"A Cybertronian signal? And not that far away from here, either. Hmm, interesting…"

"A life signal?" Jack asked, standing on his toes but still not seeing anything.

"No, too weak. The sensors are barely picking it up as it is… It's unidentified, in any case."

The engineer studied the signal for a while and then turned to the human.

"So, partner. Want to go check it out?" Wheeljack asked, in his usual laid-back tone.

Jack hesitated though. "I don't know. Shouldn't we call the base first? Let them know what we're doing?"

The Wrecker rubbed his chin and shrugged nonchalantly.

"Yeah, why not. Don't mind saying 'hi' for ol' Sunshine anyways." he chuckled, it suddenly requiring all his willpower to not bursting laughing out loud at the bewildered look on the teenager's face.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The space was open, white and the light mist lingering around gave it an almost euphoric feel. The air was warm and moist; it's smell almost disgustingly sweet.

Ratchet didn't know where he was, but he knew he was frying. Small streaks of coolant, freely dripping down his chassis, did nothing to ease his predicament.

"Ratchet…" an angelic voice called out for him.

"Who are you? Where am I? Why am I here?" the medic called out, sounding irritated.

"Ratchet…" he couldn't pinpoint where the voice was coming from, as it sounded like it was surronding him.

The atmosphere felt heavy, making it hard for him to vent – which he desperately needed, to lower his rising body temperature.

"Ratchet…"

"Where are you?" He called, walking forward and hoping to figure a way out. Suddenly, he saw a door which was emitting a bright light.

"Come in…"

Again, with the voice. Not knowing anything else to do, the medic ran inside. This time, the entire world disappeared around him.

"What's going on?" he demanded, venting hard, until suddenly the voice seemed to be right next to him.

"Ratchet…" he heard, and spun around but saw nobody.

Suddenly, the medic stiffed as he felt a pair of servos wrapping around his body, preventing him from moving. He shuddered when he felt the hot breath of his captor on his shoulder, as the intrusive servos slowly brushed across his hot and wet body.

"Ratchet…" the mystery bot whispered, nuzzling the back of the medic's neck as their other servo suddenly stopped and groped the panel in between his legs, the sensation making him venting even harder.

"Open up…"

Ratchet suddenly woke up with an alarmed yelp, letting out some startled vents. He looked around him, and noticed he was in the hangar, in front of the console. Just like he should have been, until he'd dozed off for some reason.

He sighed and shook his helm swiftly, trying to calm down his beating spark. He was still flushed and felt tingly in places he'd rather not mention.

"Thank Primus it was only a dream." he sighed, also being grateful nobody had been around to witness this embarrassing situation.

He didn't have time to contemplate about it any further though as he was reminded by what had woken him up. Someone was calling in.

"Open up, Ratchet! Do you read me? Come in!"

'Oh. Well, that explains it.' the medic briefly thought, though cursed inwardly as he realized who the caller was. Wheeljack. He opened up the connection, hoping his 'exhaustion' wasn't detectable.

"This is Ratchet, now what is it?" he demanded, sounding grouchy as usual. He hoped the Wrecker would get to the point as he was not in a mood for anything else right now.

"Well, rise and shine. Sounds like we got up on the wrong pede today; didn't we?" the engineer teased, causing Ratchet to grimace. So at least his tiredness was pretty obvious.

"Just woke from a little nap, if that's what you're hinting. Now, state your business, I don't have time for this!"

Hearing it only caused some light chuckles escape from the Wrecker's vocalizer. Ratchet swore he'd tear it out if the other bot was within range for him to do so.

Thankfully, the engineer wisely chose to not push it further.

"The Jackhammer picked up a faint Cybertronian signal not five kliks from here. Thought to let you know we're going to check it out. Don't know what it is but it's not a life signal."

"Hmmm…" the medbot thought out loud.

"Could be a new relic, or something. Go on, but call for backup immediately if there are any problems."

That made the engineer snort. "Yeah, yeah. I'll tell you when to call in the clean-up." he boasted in his usual Wrecker style and hung up.

Ratchet shook his helm, as he began walking towards his quarters. He didn't know what to do with him. The medic just hoped they'd find the relic and come back safely… Wait, they?

And then it hit him. Jack was there with the engineer! How could he have forgotten!

He was just about to turn around and run back at the console when he suddenly crashed right into Optimus Prime, who just happened to be carrying an open cube of energon, causing it all to fall on top of the poor, now flustered medic.

"Oh! My deepest apologies, old friend; I wasn't watching where I was going." Optimus stated in a remorseful tone, offering a servo to lift the other bot up. The Prime unsubspaced a large cleaning cloth and began wiping the medic dry. Ratchet was oddly quiet, having tensed up for some reason.

In order to properly reach everywhere around him, Optimus was required to be on a close proximity; and this wasn't lost on the flustered medic. The Prime was very close up to him, like, really close. His earlier dream added with this, the energon covering him and the light touches of the towel was affecting the poor Medic in unmentionable ways.

Had Ratchet been able to think clearly, he would have noticed they'd been in an otherwise empty hallway, and Optimus not watching where he was going just did not happen. So, what else was there to catch the attention of their leader in such way; hadn't he been walking right behind him?

Optimus resubspaced the cloth and apologized again, leaving Ratchet alone when he left to fetch another cube.

The medic shook his helm, all his previous thoughts forgotten. He swiftly exited in his quarters and locked the door. He was suddenly in a serious need of some very special "alone time."


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some action in this one for a change. Hope you like! ^^

Wheeljack drove down the mountain road, any possible speed limit long since forgotten. The environment was basking in shadows that were growing deeper by the last few rays of the setting sun still escaping from below the horizon line, painting the evening sky in the vivid hues of pink and purple.

The signal flickered faintly on the portable device lying on the mech's passenger's seat as it was a bit too large to be held by Jackson. The contraption looked ancient and the engineer had to admit it was a miracle the old thing even worked anymore, he didn't even remember the last time he'd used it. Good thing he didn't have the habit of throwing things away; you never know when they'll come in handy.

"Are we getting any closer?" Wheeljack asked, making a last second dodge by a rock formation that had suddenly appeared in his headlights, causing his passenger to cry out in surprise.

"Hey, careful! I'd rather keep my head where it is!" the boy protested, desperately trying to hold his grip firm on the driver's seat.

"What's the matter? Don't tell me Arcee never takes the higher speeds. I've seen you two going before." Wheeljack chuckled, amused by the boy's reaction.

"Arcee doesn't go speeding after dark in an uncharted territory, especially one filled with sudden death traps like that one!" Jack countered.

The sports' car just snickered. "Come on, where's your sense of adventure? Miko would be squealing out of the thrill."

"On your floor mat soon accompanied by the contents of my stomach if you keep this up." Jack grimaced, peeking towards the flickering device next to him and then back at the dashboard, praying the figures he saw on the speedometer were kilometers per hour rather than miles.

"We're getting closer, but you know, we really aren't in a rush or anything." the human tried once more, only being rewarded by his ride's amusement.

"The girl was right, you sure are as dull as they come." the mech rolled his optics, figuratively.

"Right!"

Wheeljack shook his helm inwardly. "No denying it, huh? You know, you should…"

"No, turn right!" The boy yelled, suddenly grabbing a hold of the wheel and steering it a firm right, making Wheeljack barely miss the V-shaped canyon wall that had unexpectedly appeared right in front of them, dividing the dirt road in two.

The shock rendered them both speechless for a moment, but it didn't take long for Wheeljack to come out of it.

"You know, I could have handled that just fine."

"Y-yeah… But with me still intact? I-I don't think so! I swear to God, I saw the Grim Reaper in your rear-view, right there!" Jack pointed at the middle of the road behind just for emphasis.

Wheeljack was quiet for a while, but then left out a dramatic sigh.

"Fine. I'll drive slower."

"I-I'd really appreciate it."

The rest of the short journey went quietly and without incident.

"We're getting really close now." Jack noted, after taking another peek at the device on the passenger's seat.

"Alright. I'll park here and transform." Wheeljack said, slowing down and stopping. He let Jack out and returned to his bi-pedal mode, now holding the beeping contraption.

Jack looked around, trying to spot anything out of the ordinary.

"It seems to be coming from this way." the engineer noted, waving at the teenager to follow his lead.

Jackie turned on his headlights as they stepped on forward, pointing the device to every direction in search of their target.

It didn't take long for him to finally pinpoint the source.

"There!" he exclaimed, and directed his headlights into the newly discovered depression on the rocky slope, now filled with rocks and boulders of all shapes and sizes as far as the eye could see.

Jack rushed to where the bot stood, and saw something glimmering underneath the unmistakable display of evidence of a fairly recent avalanche.

"What is it?" the boy asked, now hurrying to the edge but refrained from jumping directly on the potentially unsteady rocks.

"Hard to say." Wheeljack said, rubbing his chin and then casting his gaze up the mountain slope.

"But it's definitely been here for a good while. Must have hit the mountainside way uphill when it landed, and been embedded deep within ever since. Well, until the rock mass beneath finally gave way and uncovered it, bringing it down with the landslide. I'm just hoping it is not damaged too bad, whatever it is."

He crouched, placing the device on the ground and then proceeded towards his target, but suddenly stopped as something moved behind his left side; and it wasn't Jack.

As the unmistakable glow of a charging blaster finally registered in his mind, he suddenly jerked up, and yelled:

"Jack, DUCK! It's 'Cons!"

The boy had hardly any time to react when Wheeljack jumped on the air and landed behind him, protecting the teenager from the incoming fire.

"SCRAP!" The mech yelled, right before his battle mask slid into place; meaning all his senses were now primed for battle. So far it was only a few Vehicon or Eradicon troopers, he wasn't sure as he hadn't gotten a good look; but he knew that getting the boy into safety had top priority. Not only to help him concentrate better in the upcoming fight, but to keep the human alive.

"Go find a place to hide and call Ratchet! I'll keep the 'Cons busy!" he ordered, charging at his assailants head-on.

Jack didn't need to be told twice. He bolted directly in the nearest human sized dent in the mountain side for cover, his way illuminated by the flashing blaster fire.

"Come on, come on…!" the boy tried, his shaking hands attempting to find the correct button of the speed-dial for the Autobot medic. He lifted the phone up to make the call, only to discover the line was mute. He cursed out loud in frustration.

"There's no bars!" he yelled at the battling mech, praying the engineer would have better luck in contacting the base.

Luckily Wheeljack had just managed to defeat what he believed was the last one of the remaining Eradicons. He was glancing around frantically holding his katanas out ready to strike, heavily venting in and out.

"Are you alright?" he asked, his face showing once again; and with the boy's affirmation the bot turned around peeking over his shoulder and continued:

"Let's grab the thing quick, I'll call Ratch' for a bridge. Better get going fast, before the 'Cons send in rein…"

He didn't have the time to finish his sentence when suddenly the imposing figure of none other than Soundwave appeared in his headlights.

"Awh, scrap!" Wheeljack cursed, his battle mask closing again in an instant while he lifted his katanas up in defense.

"Uh, kid? The Reaper you saw earlier? I think I found him."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooo

Arcee stepped into the main hall of the base, noting there was nobody else around.

"That's strange." She thought.

She could have sworn it was Ratchet's turn to watch the monitors. Looking around, she figured maybe the old mech had taken a short break and would return any minute now.

"Oh well, might as well fill in for him. Not like I have anything better to do right now." she decided, approaching the console.

The motorcycle settled in front of the screens and carefully studied the data on them. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Suddenly, she heard fast heavy steps approaching from the hallway.

"HEY, Jackie! Lobbing time!" the big green bulk of a bot called out loud, rushing in while carrying the huge ball made of scraps the two used to play with on occasion.

"Sorry, Bulk. Wheeljack doesn't seem to have returned yet." Arcee told him, seeing the confusion spreading on the Wrecker's faceplate.

"Oh, I thought… He should have been back by now, he promised to go out lobbing with me. You sure he hasn't tried to call or anything?" Bulkhead asked, hoping Arcee had just missed it.

"Not according to this. You sure he said he'd be back by now?"

Arcee's question was left unanswered when the console suddenly started beeping and the urgent voice of Wheeljack's came through.

"RATCH'! Anyone at the base hear me!? Kinda have a situation up in here!"

"It's Arcee, Ratch's not here. What's your status?" the female bot promptly enquired, the sudden loud commotion drawing both Optimus Prime and Smokescreen in the hangar.

"Engaging Soundwave! The target's so far secured!" was the battling mech's reply. Sounds of blasting fire and scraping of metal littered the background, reminding their audience the scrap had hit the fan blades quite literally.

Knowing their time was short, the Autobot leader rushed to the console.

"This is Optimus Prime! What is this target you speak of?"

"An unidentified item from home we discovered. Went to retrieve it, ran into these clowns!"

Hearing the way Wheeljack worded it brought a sinking feeling on Arcee's spark.

"Not asking for help but at least open the ground bridge so the kid can get into safety!" the older Wrecker grunted, confirming her fear.

"Jack's in trouble!" she exclaimed, immediately wanting to bolt into the fight in order to save her partner, but Optimus had other plans.

"Arcee! You stay and operate the ground bridge. Bulkhead, Smokescreen! Transform and roll out!" the Prime ordered, changing into his truck form.

The motorcycle could have argued a better choice for the lineup, but as Ratchet was still nowhere to be seen and there really wasn't much time anyway, she decided to obey as aside the Prime himself, she was currently positioned closest to the bridge controls. She rushed to feed in the coordinates, pulled the switch and watched as her comrades drove into the ongoing skirmish.

Unknowingly to Arcee, Smokescreen had made a mental promise to not let anything happen to her human companion, and he was determined to keep it.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooo

Jack sighed out of the relief as he saw the portal of the ground bridge opening up, and the figures of Optimus Prime, Bulkhead and Smokescreen arriving in the scene, immediately going after Soundwave.

It was a pity Wheeljack's pride didn't want to admit that he needed the help, even if deep down the mech knew he did. Despite the two were about evenly matched in strength, skill and speed, the Wrecker was severely outmatched against Soundwave's superior observational abilities; making him spot openings and analyze all possible outcomes of each action just that much more efficiently. The engineer was already growing weary as his enemy had gotten some decent shots in, and he knew he wouldn't have lasted much longer if his best friend and the Prime hadn't made it to the scene, together managing to hold back the Decepticon from successfully hitting the old Wrecker to the ground.

"Wheeljack! Stand back and go retrieve the item with Bulkhead! Smokecreen, go find Jack! I shall take care of Soundwave!" The Prime ordered, charging forward towards the 'Con surveillance officer.

"Alright! This way!" The older Wrecker directed his friend towards where the item lay.

They started digging the thing up and found a rather large, sturdy and quite heavy looking container. As moving something so large and heavy would have been a waste of time, they decided to try and open it up. It took some time but finally the locking system damaged by the corrosion brought by the crash and old age gave way and they managed to pull the lid off. Inside was something that bore a resemblance to a data cylinder, and etched atop of it was a carving that looked just like the Matrix of Leadership. They proceeded to remove the cylinder but were suddenly intercepted by Vehicons that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

"Awh, slag! I was sure I had them all already!" Wheeljack complained as the two began mauling their new opponents. One could tell the engineer was no longer all there as it was Bulkhead who mostly did all the work.

Meanwhile Smokescreen tried to locate the boy as the others were keeping their enemy at bay, but couldn't find him. He'd wandered off a little further from the imminent battle, and so wasn't in the direct line of vision to any of the others, each of them firmly concentrated on their task at hand.

He quickly ducked behind a rock formation when he noticed a band of Vehicons had just rolled in and transformed, coming from the direction where the young bot assumed Wheeljack had arrived from. So, it would seem this hadn't been a trap, but Soundwave and the troops had been scouting the area in search of the item the two Wreckers had almost managed to retrieve.

About half of the arrived troops went to engage the Wreckers, as the other half went to aid Soundwave against the Prime. The few that walked a little too close by the sports' car's hiding spot were swiftly offlined with a couple of carefully targeted hits. But he didn't have the time for this, where was Jack?

Turning his gaze back towards the battle Smokescreen grimaced as he saw Soundwave succeeding in hitting a painful looking strike on Optimus' arm directly in the shoulder joint; the opportunity brought in by the distractive arrival of the Vehicons. The Prime howled in agony.

The young bot was almost on his way to help his leader, managing to down a few more Vehicons, when he suddenly saw Laserbeak flying around to the other direction from where he had been standing, shooting at the rubble. To the young mech's horror he saw Jack running away from the avian drone's line of fire, almost tripping over a few times. Smokescreen immediately bolted for help, but was soon stopped when he saw Soundwave managing to escape from Optimus' view for a split second, enough to dive in the direction where Laserbeak was in pursuit of his prey, and succeeded to grab a hold of the boy.

"No!" Yelled the Prime, and immediately told his bots to stand down, but not before a random shot hit Laserbeak causing the flying drone fall down near the spot Soundwave landed on, stunning it temporarily offline.

Soundwave seemed unfazed by it however. The officer approached his extension with his usual lack of any visible display of emotion and attached the damaged drone back onto his body. Lifting up the boy wriggling in his tentacle for the world to see the silent mech moved back holding his prize firm, slowly pointing a scrawny digit at the item lying on the ground. It was quite evident what the Decepticon wanted; a trade.

"Wheeljack, Bulkhead!" Optimus called, holding his arm as if his very life depended on it. It stroke Smokescreen as odd. Sure, the hit had been pretty bad; but it shouldn't have been powerful enough to break his arm.

"Please give the Decepticons what they want." The Prime continued, as the Wreckers slowly moved away from the container, one of the Vehicons retrieving the item and carried on taking it to Soundwave.

Smokescreen slowly advanced towards the visored Decepticon, as stealthy as he could but not before he made sure his leader had noticed what he was up to.

And as if on cue; right before the Vehicon approaching Soundwave with the item was close enough to Optimus, Smokescreen sprinted hurriedly by the tall, slender 'Con officer, grabbing the human from his grasp, transformed and immediately called the base in for a ground bridge.

A split second after was the Prime's turn to attack Soundwave, having pretended to being more hurt than he actually was. The Autobot leader managed to take his enemy by surprise thanks to the astronomically short but sufficient confusion provided by Smokescreen's stunt.

Bulkhead and Wheeljack caught on immediately and went after the Vehicons surrounding them, right as the Autobots' ground bridge opened and Smokescreen drove in, dropping off his precious cargo. It wasn't long after that Arcee sped out of the vortex and engaged the Vehicons around Optimus Prime. She was mad, and it showed; had the others been able to pay attention, they would have noticed the motorcycle getting in some very impressive shots.

Only a few seconds later Smokescreen returned from the ground bridge and went after Soundwave with Prime.

The fight went on fiercely, but it wasn't long until the youngster managed to neutralize the Vehicon trooper that had been holding the pursued item; but right before he'd gone offline, the drone had thrown it up in the air in order for Soundwave to catch it. Smokescreen had taken some damage in the scuffle, nothing too bad but enough to slow him down, so the youngster knew he wouldn't be able to catch the thing on time from where he was standing. Instead; he swiftly offlined a few remaining Decepticons while rushing towards the target – and Soundwave.

Thankfully though, Optimus was up to date about what was going on and caught the cylinder just before Soundwave did. But before the 'Con officer could do anything about it; he was attacked by Smokescreen and Arcee that had joined him. They tried to coax their leader to roll out to safety, but before he managed to do that the item begun to glow; something it hadn't done while being held by any of the others.

The glow spread around Optimus, engulfing him inside it. Not knowing what was going on he suddenly felt as if something was trying to invade his processor. Suddenly feeling queasy the Prime dropped on his knees, his face twisting into a visible display of discomfort and confusion. He let go of the cylinder that had already stopped glowing; it rolled on the ground turning gray, as if empty.

All of the remaining Vehicons had by now been offlined and Soundwave realized he'd been outmatched. He pushed the two younger bots off of him, sent a final blast into the Prime's back making him fall down unconscious, and took off with the empty cylinder.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Likely very unnecessary, but...  
> Subtle references to 'self service' in this chapter.

Ratchet sighed out of the relief. The medic hadn't had any idea of just how much he'd really needed that. Sitting on the floor of his private washroom really wasn't the most comfortable or appropriate of places but at the moment he didn't care. Getting up again the ambulance opened the faucet in meaning of washing his hands when he suddenly halted as the realization finally hit him. After so many vorns, literally centuries of absolutely nothing and now all of a sudden… The very thought made Ratchet grimace out of disgust. He couldn't even think about it; shouldn't even think about it. Then why in the slagging pit was he behaving like a pubescent youngling? It didn't make any sense.

Contemplating about it any further would prove futile though, he decided as he let out a dramatic sigh. The only logical conclusion he could come up with was that the glitch in his systems must have been worse than he'd originally thought. There was nothing else behind it, couldn't be anything else behind it.

Now feeling very foolish for letting himself be betrayed by his body like that the mech decided to take a full-on shower while he was at it. One thing was for certain though; he was too old for this slag.

He'd been bathing for a good while until suddenly he heard someone calling his name.

"RATCHET? I swear to Primus this is the worst time to be having a temper tantrum! We need you here, now!" It was Arcee.

The medic closet the flow of water immediately and ran to his door and opened it while still trying to dry off his dripping wet armor with a towel he'd grabbed off. The astounded look on Arcee's face was worth seeing. She recovered quickly though.

"What on Cybertron compelled you to be taking a shower now of all times?" she demanded, being obviously quite agitated.

"Uh, trust me. You DON'T want to know." was his awkward reply as he tried to avoid looking at her in the optics.

"And don't even get me started about leaving your post like that? We needed you here breems ago and now we're one bot short on the battlefield because I had to stay here to operate the bridge!" she raged on, but Ratchet barely paid attention.

His optics were locked on her arms that were vigorously waving in the air in between them and knowing the damage the lithe femme could create with them given the proper stimulus, Ratchet really didn't feel like being in the receiving end of that scenario.

"Battle?" he suddenly perked up. "What is going on?"

"Wheeljack was out with Jack and ran into 'Cons. Optimus and the others are now out there trying to save him." she explained as her gaze softened, genuine worry swiftly spreading on her faceplate accompanied by a delicate frown. You didn't need to be a psychic to know which 'him' she was referring to.

"Oh, slaggit!" Ratchet grimaced when he heard this.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" the old mech rebuked internally, having lifted a hand on his optics in shame while shaking his helm in disbelief. OF COURSE something like this would happen. What a brilliant idea had that been!

"What about the item?" he hesitantly asked, while peeking through in between his digits.

Arcee's mouth fell open from the shock.

"You KNEW about the item? You KNEW they were out there alone!? Why didn't you tell anyone! And why the frag didn't you return to your post! Ratchet, you if anyone should know this type of negligence is unforgivable!" she raged, Ratchet's helm sagging lower in shame by the minute. He really didn't need more reasons to be cursing himself into the pit as he apparently was half way going there already anyway.

"I… I know, and you're absolutely right. I can't even begin to tell you just how sorry I… I just… I know it's not a proper excuse by any means, but I... something came up and I just… forgot. I can't believe I let it happen but it's the truth." the ambulance apologized, his tone full of regret.

Seeing the old medic mentally kicking himself on the aft like that was something one didn't see every day, but Arcee was too furious to pay much attention to it.

"Well, there's no time for lamenting about it now! What's happened; happened. But for your sake, Jack had better be alright." she barked, walking restlessly around the console, glancing at the screens every few seconds.

"If it weren't for Optimus' orders, I'd have already rolled in by now. But I guess I just have to wait and hope for the best." she continued, wrapping her arms around her midsection as if she was feeling cold, and sighed.

The minutes passed by in silence. Ratchet tried to be keeping himself occupied so that the atmosphere wouldn't feel even more awkward than it already was. And, it made sense to make preparations in case something happened.

Suddenly, the console began beeping and Arcee rushed to answer. It was Smokescreen.

"Need a bridge, fast! I got Jack! He's fine, but we need to get out of here, now!"

The femme didn't hesitate but hurried to open the bridge as the young mech rushed in, let out his passenger and transformed.

She was seemingly relieved to see her human partner was alive and okay.

"Go!" Smokescreen urged her. "Optimus needs you!"

She didn't need to be told twice as she transformed immediately and drove into the vortex. It was time for some punishment!

Smokescreen was going to return right on her tail, but Ratchet rushed in and stopped him.

"What happened out there? Are you… and the others, alright?" he asked, worried.

"Soundwave had Jack but I managed to save him. The 'Cons have the item and Optimus is taking on Soundwave. Wheeljack looked pretty beat up when we arrived but nothing serious. And I'm fine, just some scrapes and dents, mostly." the younger mech assured.

Ratchet nodded, but before he had a chance to continue, the youngster beat him to it.

"Would love to chat but I need to go, they need me!" he said, transforming again and driving in after Arcee's trail.

"Keep the comm.-lines clear!"

Ratchet closed the bridge and sighed, looking away briefly as if contemplating on something.

"Of course." he said to no-one in particular, and was suddenly reminded by the presence of the human when he spotted tiny red drops on the floor. That was something that needed urgent attendance.

"And you? Are you alright!? You're hurt?" It was a statement rather than a question. The old mech walked to the boy and lifted him up. His pant leg was torn and a nasty looking wound was oozing blood underneath.

"Oh, I-I didn't even notice that. Just a flesh wound; it's nothing." the boy replied defensively, obviously just trying to act brave. Ratchet figured the boy was trying not to worry him so that he wouldn't tell June, but it was also possible Jack was still in shock for his ordeal so the medic decided not to push it.

He retrieved some of the medical supplies that June had had the foresight to bringing in the base, just in case something like this happened. He let Jack take care of himself as the human's fingers were much better suited for equipment meant for someone his own size rather than a 15-feet tall mech. And Jack probably knew more about human first aid than he did. Ratchet sighed and shook his helm. Since when had he become so useless?

It was then that the console beeped and Arcee's urgent voice came through.

"Ratchet, we need a bridge! Prepare the medbay, Optimus is down."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooo

"What happened?"

Ratchet looked down at the mangled Prime now lying unconscious on a medical berth. Thankfully, the wounds Soundwave had managed to wreak were not fatal and were relatively easy to fix. But why the Prime was currently still offline was mind boggling.

"The item, whatever it was, must have had something to do with it. I didn't really get a good look, trying to avoid getting scrapped by "Slenderman" out there and so on, but... All I saw was that something began glowing around him right after he caught it. Then the next thing I know he fell down, as if weary, and either couldn't or wouldn't get up." Smokescreen explained.

"It was a data-cylinder of sorts, I think." Wheeljack continued. "Not like the ones I remember seeing before though." The engineer casted a questioning look towards Bulkhead, but the other Wrecker seemed just as clueless about it as he did, shrugging deep and shaking his helm, affirming the unspoken negative.

"There's no way of knowing for certain, that's for sure. It's gone. Soundwave took a cheap shot at Optimus and escaped with it." Arcee finished, arms folded neatly under her chest. She'd just returned from taking Jack home and had helped the medic fix up everyone else with Wheeljack; only the Wrecker himself was yet to be attended to.

"That is very peculiar. Anything else?" Ratchet inquired, and the engineer's optics brightened as he suddenly remembered something.

"Oh yeah. It had a carving that looked a lot like that Matrix thingy atop. Maybe it had something to do with the Primes?"

Ratchet looked at the engineer with wide optics.

"It is… plausible." he agreed and was quiet for a while, not knowing what to think.

"But I suppose there's no way of knowing for certain until Optimus wakes up again and shares his side of the story. Meanwhile, I suggest we let him rest for now. Us standing here doing nothing is not going to do him any good, so you all might just go back to your duties." he concluded, beginning to usher the audience away.

The medic couldn't help but think why the item had done this to Optimus and not anyone else, plus the fact that he didn't remember data cylinders ever behaving like this. There was something fishy going on, and he fully intended to… Pity he never got to finish that thought when Wheeljack suddenly said something that made him lose his train of thought.

"Oh, but not so fast there, Ratchet. Aren't you forgetting a little something now, mmm?" the Wrecker sweet talked in a most uncharacteristic low sing-songish tone.

"Everyone else has already been attended to, but look at me! I think I'm still in need of some "special treatment" by your wonder-working hands." The engineer was referring to his still quite mangled state that the medic was yet to fix, but the way he said it was also heavily suggesting towards something else.

Ratchet just stared at the scene in front of him, not believing a thing his optics or audios were telling him.

Thinking he was getting through, the lecherous mech sat down on a medical berth, now feigning dramatically.

"Oh, I think my processor is overheating, I'm feeling faint! Only your magical touch can save me!"

Had Wheeljack seen the fuming look on Ratchet's face, he would have run for exile without a second thought. Now, as he didn't, all the other bots heard was a loud clang of a flying wrench hitting its target dead on; and a vocal high-pitched exclamation that resembled the famous shriek of Goofy's from the old classic cartoons echoing in the calmness of the Nevada night.

Needless to say; a certain Wrecker was going to be attending to his own injuries himself from now on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here it is! The last one of the chapters I've already finished. This means that the updating pace will slow down quite a bit from now on. I'm trying to get the 21st chapter done as soon as possible so that may not take very long, but after that I likely won't be updating more often than once a week; if even that often.  
> Also, I've been thinking of adding a little bit (and I mean a little bit) of what the Decepticons are doing meanwhile, now that there's a reason to. What do you guys think? Would it be weird? What do you prefer?


End file.
